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“The door was pushed violently open” 


JACK STRAW IN 
MEXICO 


How the Engineers Defended 
the Great Hydro-Electric Plant 


BY 

IRVING CRUMP 


Illustrations by 


LESLIE CRUMP 


NEW YORK 

McBRIDE, NAST & COMPANY 
1914 


Copyright, I914, by 
McBride, Nast & Co. 



Published Sjp^ttmber, 1914 


SEP 16 1914 


©CI,A380369 * 




CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I Jack Straw’s Mission to Mexico ..... i 

II “In Self Defense” ... 17 

III Seasick 26 

IV At Odds with Customs Inspectors .... 40 

V In the Hands of the Secret Service .... 50 

VI On Trial as a Spy 58 

VII Off for Necaxa 67 

VIII The Crippled Generators 79 

IX Jack Proposes a Trap 88 

X Footprints 100 

XI Searching for the Man with the Scarred 

Heel 108 

XII The Drawings are Stolen 119 

XIII A Weakened Garrison 129 

XIV The Night Watch 139 

XV Improvised Searchlights .151 

XVI A Warning 162 

XVII Who will be Food for the Vultures . . . , 174 

XVIII The Wires are Down 184 

XIX To THE Rescue 193 

XX “Shoot I Shoot!” 205 

XXI “Yes, Yes, I Did It” 216 

XXII Good-by Necaxa 226 





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1 



THE ILLUSTRATIONS 

The door was pushed violently open . Frontispiece 

FACING 

PAGE 

To Jack it all seemed like a horrible nightmare . 58 / 

They pressed against the barrier like cattle . . 178 

The horsemen in green swept down the valley . 198 v/ 


JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

CHAPTER I 

JACK straw's mission TO MEXICO 

F ive members of the ‘‘D" club had gath- 
ered in Jack Straw's room on the top floor 
of Phillip's Hall the last Saturday afternoon 
before the end of the Spring term. They had 
not assembled in official conclave, indeed they 
had not intended to assemble at all. They had 
merely gravitated there one by one in search 
of something to take their minds off the worst 
disappointment they had been compelled to 
face that year. The Drueryville-Seaton base- 
ball game, the one that was to have settled the 
preparatory school championship of Vermont, 
had been scheduled for that Saturday after- 
noon, and, lo and behold, in spite of the im- 
portance of the day, Jupiter Pluvius or who- 
ever it was that controlled the rain supply, 


2 


JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

had made the game impossible by deluging 
everything in sight since early morning. And 
there was no chance of postponing the contest 
either as school closed the following Friday. 
The championship would have to remain unde- 
cided. And this was just the year Drueryville 
stood a better chance than ever of adding the 
''prep” cup to her trophy case. It was enough 
to make anyone glum. 

"They should have named this place Dreary- 
ville instead of Drueryville,” muttered Toad 
Fletcher, the stocky little catcher of the team, 
as he looked across the deserted campus at the 
dripping eves of Bradley Hall. 

John Monroe Strawbridge, who was known 
to every boy in school as Jack Straw, shifted 
his position on the window seat so that he 
could take another look at the weather. 

"It is pretty gloomy on a day like this,” he 
answered after searching the leaden sky for 
some signs of a break in the low hanging 
storm clouds. 

Jack and Toad were too dejected in spirit for 
conversation and since Bunny Baily was deeply 
engrossed in a book of fiction and Dick Cory 


JACK’S MISSION TO MEXICO 3 

and Harvey Maston were working out an ab- 
sorbing game of checkers silence reigned in the 
room for some time. In fact a stranger pass- 
ing the door would never have suspected that 
five perfectly normal, healthy boys were within. 
But then the ‘"D” club was composed of the 
honor boys of Drueryville Academy and for 
that reason if no other, they were bound to be 
more dignified at times. You see the ''D” club 
was made up of the students who had won the 
privilege of wearing a white and blue initial, 
the insignia of the school, on their caps or 
jersey; and in order to earn that distinction a 
boy must needs work hard both in the class 
room and on the athletic field. When a youth 
successfully attained such laurels the crown 
was apt to weigh heavily. 

How long the clicking of checkers would 
have remained the only sound is hard to tell 
had not Tommy Todd happened to see Jack 
Straw curled up in the window seat. He 
paused a moment before Phillip’s Hall and 
waved his hand in friendly greeting. Then he 
splashed across the muddy road and came up 
the stairs three steps at a time. Like a small 


4 


JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

portion of the storm itself (for Tommy was by 
no means a big boy) he burst into the room, 
his yellow raincoat and rubber hat dripping 
wet. 

‘‘Say, don’t flood the place!” shouted Jack 
as he noted two growing pools of water on the 
rug. 

But Tommy only grinned as he removed his 
wet garments and draped them over the back 
of a chair so that they would drip on the 
hearthstone. 

“Sort of hard luck to have a day like this 
happen along just when it isn’t wanted,” he 
suggested to no one in particular. Then with- 
out waiting for a response he looked at Jack 
and spoke. 

“Say old man, I can’t think what on earth 
you’ve been up to recently, but there’s some- 
thing in the wind. Dr. Moorland wants to see 
you as soon as possible. I just came from his 
house and he asked me to look you up. I was 
going on downtown first because the last place 
on earth I ever expected to find you was in 
your own room. What’s the trouble anyway? 
You haven’t done something that will keep 


JACK’S MISSION TO MEXICO 5 

you from getting through next week, have 
you ? It’s mighty close to the end of the term 
and I hope you’ve been careful.” 

At this Cory and Maston suspended their 
game for a moment and Bunny Baily put down 
his book. All eyes were turned on Jack Straw. 
And as for Jack, it must be confessed he looked 
startled and somewhat worried. Hastily he 
ran through his mental diary, but so far as he 
could see no one entry stood out above the rest 
as warranting reprimand from the principal. 

‘T haven’t the slightest idea what he can 
want of me,” he assured his guests as he 
hastened into his bedroom and donned rain- 
coat and rubbers. A few moments later he 
hurried out into the hall and down the broad 
stairs toward the main entrance. As he 
passed the mail rack in the hall he noticed a 
letter waiting for him. Hastily he seized it 
and crammed it into his pocket, noting as he 
did so that the address was written in his 
father’s hand. 

Dr. Theodore Moorland, the principal, lived 
in a modest little cottage on the north side of 
the campus. It was almost hidden in a grove 


6 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

of tall ipaples and, as if to make itself more 
inconspicuous, it had permitted woodbine and 
ivy to clothe its gray stone walls in a cloak 
of soft green. A graveled road that wound 
between fat old maples showed the way to the 
front door, and it was up this much used path 
that Jack Strawbridge hastened, his mind still 
puzzled over the reason for such an unusual 
command. The heavy old-fashioned door to 
the cottage was equipped with a ponderous 
brass knocker of quaint design which thumped 
with such resonance as to spread consterna- 
tion in the soul of youngsters summoned 
thither. Thus they were thoroughly disturbed 
before they even faced the austere old master. 

Such was not the attitude of Jack Straw, 
however. He had not been able to remember 
a single reason why he should expect to face a 
scolding from Dr. Moorland. Every exami- 
nation paper had come back with excellent 
markings and his conduct for some time past 
had been beyond reproach. He thumped the 
old door knocker twice in his eagerness to find 
out just what the master wanted. Perhaps it 
was news from home, he thought, and he com- 


JACK’S MISSION TO MEXICO 7 

forted himself by the fact that nothifig serious 
had happened to his father, for the letter in his 
coat pocket attested to the fact that he was 
still well enough to write. But while he was 
speculating thus the door was opened by Dr. 
Moorland himself. 

The dignified pedagogue greeted the boy 
with a broad smile and a hearty hand 
shake. 

‘T didn’t know but what you and some of the 
rest of the boys had about grieved yourselves 
to death over your ill luck at having the cham- 
pionship game broken up by the weather,” he 
said as he ushered Jack into his study in a 
secluded wing of the house. 

‘Tt is rather hard on us,” said Jack with a 
smile. ‘‘Here we’ve been working since Feb- 
ruary to get our team in shape for the trophy 
contest and then a little thing like the weather 
spoils it. Next year I think we will have to 
arrange to have the championship game a little 
earlier so there will be enough time to play it 
in case of an emergency like this one.” 

“Never mind. Jack, my boy,” said the prin- 
cipal, “I have a mission for you that is cal- 


8 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

culated to take your mind off baseball and 
similar troubles for some time to come.’’ 

The boy was plainly puzzled at this remark. 
He looked curiously at the principal who was 
striding the room nervously. Dr. Moorland 
was a tall, broad shouldered man of sixty. 
His hair was snow white and so long in back 
that it curled down over his coat collar. A 
pair of horn rimmed spectacles that were con- 
stantly sliding forward on his nose made him 
appear to be a testy individual, but in reality 
he was a genial old gentleman who loved his 
boys as much as if he was the father of every 
one of them. The State of Vermont counted 
him among the best of its educators and he was 
famed throughout the country, indeed through- 
out the world as a chemist. 

'‘Jack,” he said after a long silence, "how 
would you like to go to Mexico ?” 

"To Mexico!” gasped Jack. 

"Yes, to Mexico. It will be an opportunity 
for you to see a wonderful country and also 
to make enough money to pay your tuition at 
Drueryville next year. Do you care to go?” 

"Why — why — Oh, I’d be delighted — ^but — 


JACK^S MISSION TO MEXICO 9 

well Fd have to get father^s consent first, you 
know.’^ 

‘‘Ah, Jack, you don’t suppose I would have 
suggested the subject before consulting your 
father about it, do you? I wrote him several 
days ago and asked his permission to let you 
go. I received word this morning that he was 
perfectly willing to have you avail yourself of 
the chance to see a little of the world providing 
you cared to go. I wonder that he hasn’t 
written to you about it.” 

“Why, perhaps the letter I have in my pocket 
now is about that very thing,” said Jack, 
searching in his pocket for the envelope. 

“Very likely,” said the principal, “but you 
can read it after. Let me explain exactly what 
I want you to do. When you have heard the 
details you can decide better whether you want 
to go.” 

Dr. Moorland had ceased pacing the room 
and settled deep in his comfortable study chair. 
With what seemed exasperating deliberateness 
to Jack, he removed his huge glasses and pol- 
ished them thoroughly on his handkerchief be- 
fore he was ready to talk. Then just as he 


10 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

was about to begin he seemed to remember 
something else of importance, for he began to 
search drawer after drawer of his desk until 
he finally brought to light a large yellow en- 
velope bulging with what appeared to be blue- 
prints. He tossed the package on the desk 
before him and once again resumed his com- 
fortable attitude. 

^Terhaps you never heard of my nephew, 
Harry Ryder. In fact, I am quite certain you 
haven’t, for he has never visited Drueryville 
since you’ve been at school. Harry Ryder is 
the chief engineer of the enormous hydro-elec- 
tric power plant at Necaxa where light and 
power is supplied for Mexico City, the capital, 
one hundred and twenty-five miles away. He 
was appointed to that important position by 
President Madero a year ago, and he has done 
his best to keep Mexico City lighted in spite of 
all the trouble in that turbulent republic, and 
the recent change to the Huerta regime. 

"Time and again rebels have tried to break 
down the four transmission lines that carry 
the current to the city but they have never yet 
been successful and I judge from Harry’s let- 


JACK’S MISSION TO MEXICO n 

ters that he never intends they shall. But be- 
sides rebels, Harry has other important things 
to contend with. Up there in the mountains 
where the plant is located, thunderstorms are 
quite frequent and lightning is the trouble- 
some element. Lightning is electricity in its 
most dangerous form, because of its very high 
voltage. Voltage, you know, is the pressure 
which causes it to travel. One of our scien- 
tists once tried to measure lightning and 
found that its voltage mounted well into the 
millions. This is tremendous force when you 
consider that the current used in lighting 
houses and stores is supplied at one hundred 
and ten volts. 

‘‘During thunderstorms the lightning plays 
about the transmission lines, often causing a 
great deal of trouble. If it should by any 
chance get into the station it would raise havoc 
with the generators and other machinery. To 
prevent this, lightning arresters have been 
constructed that will waylay the lightning, as 
it were, and send it into the ground before it 
reaches the vital machinery.” 

Here Dr. Moorland paused and began to 


12 


JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

sketch rapidly on a piece of paper while Jack 
looked on, still very much mystified. 

“The usual transformer is arranged some- 
thing like this. First a choke coil is put in the 



transmission line near the end. When the 
lightning strikes this coil it piles up and is 
forced back exactly like a flying wedge of 
football players that suddenly tries to break 
through an impregnable defense. The light- 


JACK’S MISSION TO MEXICO 13 

ning that is thus forced back rushes into line 
‘A/ which is the point of least resistance, 
jumps the horn gap and plunges through the 
arrester tank and into the ground. When the 
excessive electricity has left the line and the 
flow is normal, the current is checked at the 
horn gap and arrested. This combination of 
gap and arrester does not permit current to 
flow into the ground during normal operation 
and does not actually become active until light- 
ning gets into the line and there is danger of 
the plant being wrecked by an overload of elec- 
tricity.” 

"'My, but that is interesting,” said Jack 
Straw as he fingered the master’s sketch. In- 
deed, he had been so carried away with the 
description of that interesting piece of engin- 
eering work that for the moment he had com- 
pletely forgotten about Mexico. But Dr. 
Moorland revived his interest with his next 
sentence. 

“And now for my reason for wanting you 
to go to Mexico. The lightning arresters now 
in use are not entirely satisfactory, and Harry 
Ryder has been trying to build one on com- 


14 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

pletely new lines. Indeed, he has perfected 
the contrivance, except for a neutral chemical 
solution of a new nature for which he asked 
me to construct a formula. He forwarded 
his drawings for me to look over and now I 
am ready to send them back. But a few 
weeks ago, Harry communicated with me and 
asked me to take particular care that the draw- 
ings reach him safely. In fact, he suggested 
that they be sent to him by messenger instead 
of by the mails. You see, Mexico is in a state 
of extended turmoil now with Villa, Carranza 
and Zapata all carrying on campaigns against 
Huerta, and under such conditions the mails 
are not trustworthy. In fact, I understand 
from Harry that three-quarters of the mail is 
destroyed by revolutionary forces and that the 
rest of it is left lying in almost any corner of 
the republic until it can be distributed. 

"These drawings,’’ — Dr. Moorland fingered 
the bulky yellow envelope as he spoke, — ""are 
far too valuable to trust to such mail service 
and since Harry is willing to meet the ex- 
penses of a messenger and at the same time pay 
him for his services, I can see no reason why 


JACK^S MISSION TO MEXICO 15 

you should not be the one to take them safely 
to Necaxa/’ 

‘Why, I’d be delighted with the undertak- 
ing, if you think I can do it satisfactorily,” 
said Jack. 

“And why can’t you do it satisfactorily?” 
demanded the principal rather bruskly. “Any 
boy whom the students of Drueryville honor 
by electing captain of the football team for 
two successive seasons certainly must have 
some good qualities. You are strong and 
healthy. You are not a coward and above all 
you are reliable. These are qualifications that 
I could not find in every man. Will you go. 
Jack?” 

“Yes, I will. When do I start?” asked the 
boy enthusiastically, and from the expression 
on his face it was evident that he was pleased 
with the confidence the old master had in his 
ability to carry out the mission. 

“A steamer sails from New York on Satur- 
day next. I would like to have you be on 
board when it leaves the dock for I am more 
than eager to have the drawings back to their 
owner and the responsibility off my mind. 


i6 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

Then, too, I am afraid the hostilities in Mexico 
might become more serious. You will have a 
week to prepare for the journey, and since I 
have looked up all your examination papers 
and found them above the proper rating I will 
excuse you from school for the last week of 
the term and you can spend that time with 
your father, for I know he has many things to 
say to you. You can leave Drueryville on the 
ten o’clock train to-morrow morning after you 
have called here to receive final instructions 
and the precious drawings. And now you 
must hurry back to your room and pack. 
Good afternoon and good luck to you.” 

It was a rather serious moment for Jack 
when he shook hands with Dr. Moorland. He 
realized that the old schoolmaster was putting 
great trust in him. It was in truth a struggle 
for him to hide his emotions as he bade the old 
man good afternoon. 


CHAPTER II 


''in self-defense or a cause that is 
honorable’’ 

T ownsend strawbridge, jack’s 

father, lived alone in what was left of 
a once very large estate in the upper end of 
the pleasant Champlain Valley. The old 
dwelling was located on the outskirts of the 
village of Middlebury less than fifty miles 
from Drueryville, and it was toward this point 
that Jack hurried as soon as he received the 
precious yellow envelope and final instructions 
from Dr. Moorland. 

Mr. Strawbridge had in his day suffered a 
double misfortune through losing his wife and 
his money almost at the same time. His story 
was the same as that of many others in that 
region of the country. He had discovered out- 
croppings of another section of the rich mar- 
ble vein that runs from one end of the Cham- 
17 


i8 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

plain Valley to the other and almost bisects 
the State of Vermont. Lured on by the vast 
fortune that certain other men were making 
in marble quarrying, Mr. Strawbridge sought 
to develop his own property. All the money 
he had saved, as well as all that he could bor- 
row on mortgages, was invested in quarrying 
machines, derricks and the like. With these 
and a force of burly Canadian quarrymen he 
went to work, opening quarry holes in what 
had once been the farm’s pasture lot. 

But unfortunately he had not been able to 
gather together money enough to more than to 
tide him over the early part of the operation. 
This consisted in removing the top soil and 
breaking away the upper layers of worthless 
stone, a condition he had not reckoned with. 
The result was that when the channeling ma- 
chines were finally put to work to get out the 
first blocks Mr. Strawbridge found himself un- 
able to finance the undertaking much longer. 
He tried to borrow more money, but before 
he could successfully negotiate a loan the 
quarrymen called a general strike throughout 
the State and the men at the Strawbridge 


SELF-DEFENSF’ 


19 


quarries went out with the rest. The strike 
affected the entire valley and every one was 
pressed for money. Instead of making new 
loans old accounts were called in, and since Mr. 
Strawbridge had no way of meeting his debts, 
the mortgages on his property were fore- 
closed. However, he had steadfastly refused 
to mortgage his house and the property on 
which it stood. Nor would he jeopardize his 
interest in the old pasture lot where the quar- 
ries were located; consequently these sections 
alone were saved to him. 

On top of all this trouble Jack’s mother died. 
This was almost more than Mr. Strawbridge 
could stand and for several years he was very 
much depressed. But gradually he was mas- 
tering his unhappiness. He was, in fact, 
working on a plan to organize a company and 
develop his marble quarries and this served 
to keep his mind occupied enough to prevent 
unpleasant memories from creeping in. 

Naturally his son was very dear to him. In 
fact, he and Jack were more like chums than 
father and son. In summer, during Jack’s 
long vacation, they would go hunting and fish- 


20 


JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

ing together and have* a thoroughly good time 
in general. In the fall and winter, when Jack 
was at Drueryville, Mr. Strawbridge made 
weekly visits to the old academy, just for the 
pleasure of being able to chat with Jack and 
his schoolboy companions. 

Considering this mutual affection it may 
seem strange that his father was willing to 
let Jack spend his vacation in Mexico, but 
then, as Mr. Strawbridge said in his letter to 
Jack sanctioning the trip, 'Tt is an oppor- 
tunity that you cannot well miss, as it will give 
you a chance to see a very wonderful coun- 
try. If you do not avail yourself of this chance 
you may have to wait a long time before I can 
afford to pay the expenses of such a journey. 
Besides, you will be able to earn enough money 
to pay your tuition next year which also counts 
for a great deal because I am now using every 
penny I have at my command to re-establish 
my fortune.’’ 

When Jack reached home that Sunday after- 
noon after leaving the academy, Mr. Straw- 
bridge was for putting by his plans for or- 
ganizing a quarry operating company and de- 


‘IN SELF-DEFENSE’’ 


21 


voting the entire week to his son. But Jack 
would not hear to this, for he was thoroughly 
interested in the work of reopening the 
quarries. Mr. Strawbridge was well pleased 
at this and explained all the intricacies of issu- 
ing stock and organizing a company until the 
boy had secured an excellent insight into busi- 
ness of this nature. Many hours were spent 
in wandering over the old pasture lot and 
climbing in and out of the quarry holes. They 
even visited other quarries that were being 
successfully operated in the vicinity of Mid- 
dlebury. 

But though they were employed in work- 
ing out the more serious problems of life they 
did find time to go a-wandering beside bab- 
bling trout brooks with their fly rods. Alto- 
gether they crowded more enjoyment into that 
one week than they really expected and Fri- 
day morning came all too soon for both of 
them. This, in spite of the fact that Jack was 
looking forward to his voyage to Mexico with 
as much enthusiasm as ever. 

After breakfast the last morning before his 
departure Jack went over the contents of his 


22 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

valise to see that nothing important had been 
overlooked. While he was thus engaged his 
father asked him to step into the library for a 
moment. When Jack entered the room Mr. 
Strawbridge was seated at his desk and before 
him lay a huge blue steel Colt revolver, a well- 
worn leather holster and a cartridge belt 
studded with brass ends of many cartridges. 
Jack had often viewed this weapon in his 
father’s room and occasionally he had been 
allowed to fire it at a target when his father 
was at hand. 

‘'My son,” said Mr. Strawbridge kindly as 
he patted the heavy six-shooter, “you have 
been greatly honored by your principal, Dr. 
Moorland. He has asked you to undertake 
a mission of importance. He has entrusted 
you with valuable drawings, the loss of which 
would mean the ruination perhaps of a man’s 
most important contribution to the scientific 
world. All this has pleased me a great deal 
for I find satisfaction in knowing others be- 
sides myself have faith in your ability to carry 
out an undertaking. Do everything you can, 
my boy, to have them retain this faith. I 


‘IN SELF-DEFENSE’’ 


23 


realized when I gave you permission to go to 
Mexico that I was letting you take your life 
in your own hands. This worried me a great 
deal at first, but I would not for anything in 
the world cheat you of the honor of making 
that journey successfully. You will be travel- 
ing most of the time among people to whom hu- 
man life is of little value. These people are 
violent and warlike. They are uneducated 
and untrained, and all the time that you are 
in their country your life will be in danger. 
For that reason I am going to give you this 
revolver. Take it and use it only in self-de- 
fense or in a cause that is honorable. If 
others believe that you are to carry out an im- 
portant task I am ready to believe that you are 
careful enough to know how to use a weapon 
of this kind and not misuse it.” 

Jack’s heart beat fast as he took the heavy 
holster and cartridge belt from the desk. He 
always liked to feel it in his hands, and to ex- 
amine it closely. He had been accustomed to 
firearms of all kinds, but this huge army re- 
volver fascinated him because of its massive- 


ness. 


24 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

''Father/’ he said finally, "I shall be as care- 
ful with this as you have been, and you can 
be certain that whatever use it is put to will 
be honorable.” 

"Jack, I believe you,” said Mr. Strawbridge 
heartily, as he grasped his son’s hand. 

The rest of the day Jack and his father de- 
voted to planning the details of his trip and at 
four o’clock Mr. Strawbridge opened the 
heavy door of his private safe and took the 
yellow envelope from the compartment in 
which it had been reposing since Jack’s arrival 
from Drueryville. He also took a heavy 
waterproof wallet from the safe and empty- 
ing the papers contained therein gave it to 
Jack with instructions always to keep the pre- 
cious drawings in it. The wallet, with draw- 
ings inside, Jack placed in an inner pocket of 
his coat, taking good care first to see that there 
were no small holes that might become en- 
larged by the weight of the package, thereby 
providing a way for it to slip through. 
Shortly after that the village bus drove to the 
door and Jack and his father bundled inside. 


^IN SELF-DEFENSE’’ 25 

Thus did our hero depart on the first stage of 
what was to prove an unusual adventure. 

The express from Montreal that was to take 
him to New York was in the station when he 
arrived and Jack had but a very few minutes 
to say a last good-by to his parent. In fact, 
the train started as they were shaking hands 
and Jack just had time to toss his bag to a 
dusky Pullman porter and swing aboard. 


CHAPTER III 


SEASICK 

F ortunately Dr. Moorland had ar- 
ranged all the details concerning Jack’s 
sailing and had forwarded his steamship ticket 
and stateroom reservation to him while he was 
still in Middlebury, otherwise he never would 
have made the Pringle Line pier before the 
sailing hour. Somewhere south of Albany a 
freight train had been wrecked during the 
night and in consequence the entire line had 
been tied up for three hours. The Montreal 
express had merely crawled along for the 
greater part of its journey and when Jack 
awoke the next morning he found to his dis- 
may that it had many miles to go before it 
reached the Grand Central depot. In fact, 
when it finally pulled into the train shed the 
young traveler had a little more than half an 
hour in which to reach the Brooklyn dock. 

26 


SEASICK 


27 


Valise in hand he stood on the platform of 
the first car when the long train rolled in. 
And while the brakes were yet crunching 
against the wheels he leapt down, to the im- 
minent peril of a colored porter whom he 
nearly bowled over in his mad haste to reach 
Forty-second Street. Down the long con- 
course and through the waiting-room he hur- 
ried until he finally gained the sidewalk. 
There he hailed the first taxicab in sight. 
Pausing only a moment to give the driver hasty 
instructions, Jack plunged inside and immedi- 
ately was being whisked through New York 
at top speed. 

But with all this hustle and bustle he came 
very near to missing the boat. Indeed he was 
among the last aboard. All but one gang- 
plank had been hauled in and the few remain- 
ing visitors were being hastened ashore by the 
stewards when he finally gained the deck and 
paused to catch his breath. She was a long 
low white-hulled steamer that sailed under 
the name of the Yucatan and her seaworthi- 
ness was apparent even to Jack, who had never 
before set foot on a ship’s deck. 


28 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

The first thing that the boy from Druery- 
ville Academy did after locating his state- 
room was to see that the wallet with its pre- 
cious contents was secure in its proper place. 
His mind at ease on this point, he immediately 
returned to the deck, for he was eager to see 
the sights of New York harbor. The Yuca- 
tan was slipping past the lower end of Gov- 
ernor’s Island and the entire skyline of Man- 
hattan was spread out before his admiring 
gaze. But presently, as the ship passed 
Tompkinsville, his attention was diverted to 
three huge gray vessels with queer basket-like 
masts that were anchored just off the Staten 
Island shore. He recalled that a United 
States Navy coaling station was located in 
that vicinity and concluded that this was the 
reason for the presence there of three of the 
largest of Uncle Sam’s battleships. 

And as these vessels faded in the distance a 
new delight was revealed to him. The Yuca- 
tan was steaming down the Narrows toward 
the lower bay and on either bank Jack beheld 
the many innocent looking grass-grown ter- 
races of Fort Wadsworth and Fort Hamilton 


SEASICK 


29 


behind which the deadly disappearing guns of 
the harbor defense are concealed. The mere 
sight of these embankments with the Stars 
and Stripes whipping in the breeze above them 
made the young Vermonter thrill with patri- 
otism, and for the first time in his life he real- 
ized fully how glad he was that Yankee blood 
coursed through his veins. And as he stood 
there almost spell-bound by this picture of si- 
lent power, some one at his elbow spoke to 
him. 

“They look almost impregnable,’’ said the 
stranger, whereat Jack turned to find himself 
addressed by a tall, good looking man whose 
face was tanned to a ruddy brown, and whose 
eyes sparkled with as much enthusiasm as his 
own. 

“Indeed they do, and I am proud of them,” 
our young friend replied with feeling. 

“So am I, son ; so am I,” said the other with 
equal fervor. “And every day I feel more 
grateful to Providence for making an Ameri- 
can of me. You’ll appreciate it too after you 
have traveled in foreign lands a little while.” 

Jack instinctively liked this man. He was 


30 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

so heartily enthusiastic about America and 
everything American that the boy could not 
help but admire him. Indeed he found him 
decidedly interesting as a companion and they 
chatted away about everything in general un- 
til the Yucatan reached Sandy Hook. Here 
the stranger brought forth a pair of binocu- 
lars and scrutinized the beach and the Atlan- 
tic Highlands beyond until he located the ob- 
ject of his search. Then he passed the glasses 
to Jack, saying as he did so : 

‘'Here, look at the greatest lighthouses in 
the world. See those two towers standing out 
of the foliage over there on the hill. The re- 
flection of their lights can be seen seventy 
miles out at sea.” 

After a search Jack found them. They ap- 
peared like the towers of some medieval castle 
connected by a long low brick structure. 

“Are those the Sandy Hook Lights?” he 
queried. 

“No,” said his companion, “they are offl- 
cially known as the Navesink Lights. The 
Sandy Hook Light is that old octagonal white 
tower over yonder. That is one of the oldest, 


SEASICK 


31 


if not the oldest, lighthouse in America. It 
was built by the British Government in 1764 
and during the Revolutionary War the King's 
soldiers used it as a military prison. Not long 
ago when they were making some improve- 
ments in the foundation a dungeon was un- 
earthed in which were found several human 
skeletons, evidently Colonial soldiers impris- 
oned there and not liberated when the light- 
house was abandoned. Now if you will turn 
your glasses off to the right you will be able to 
see the Sandy Hook Lightship. That little 
cockleshell of a craft is there winter and sum- 
mer fighting every storm and fog that comes 
up. She's in competent hands, however, for 
the captain is a master mariner." 

Jack was exceedingly interested. He won- 
dered how his companion came to know so 
much about lighthouses and lightships and sev- 
eral times he was on the point of asking him. 
This, however, was not necessary, for a few 
moments later the information was furnished 
quite voluntarily. 

''By the v^ay," said the stranger, after Jack 
had finished scrutinizing the tossing light- 


32 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

ship, 'TVe neglected to introduce myself. My 
name is Warner, James Warner, I am sup- 
posed to be a marine engineer. You under- 
stand ; a builder of lighthouses, concrete dykes 
and all that.'’ 

''And I am John Strawbridge of Drueryville 
Academy, but since Strawbridge is a rather 
large mouthful I suggest you call me Jack 
Straw. It's handier, you know." ' 

"Jack Straw, eh? Well, that's corking," 
said Mr. Warner heartily, clapping the boy on 
the back. "Where are you bound for. Jack? 
I'm on my way to Tampico. President 
Huerta, of Mexico, has just given me a con- 
tract to rebuild the foundation of the Lobo's 
Island Light. That is one of the most impor- 
tant coast markings in Mexico." 

"I'm bound for Necaxa, by way of Vera 
Cruz and Mexico City," said Jack, who had 
already begun to feel like a seasoned traveler. 

"Necaxa," exclaimed his companion; "why 
that's where the big hydro-electric power plant 
is located. That's where Mexico City gets its 
light from. Harry Ryder, the engineer in 
charge of the plant, is an old chum of mine. 


SEASICK 


33 

In fact, we were classmates at Sheffield Sci- 
entific School.’’ 

''Why, he’s the man I am expecting to visit 
there,” said Jack, somewhat surprised at the 
fact that Mr. Warner knew Dr. Moorland’s 
nephew. He refrained, however, from tell- 
ing his companion the reason for his journey. 

"Well, that’s mighty interesting,” replied 
the marine engineer. "I haven’t seen Harry 
Ryder in more than two years, though I’ve 
kept in touch with him. He’s a very capable 
fellow, and he deserves the honor of being in 
charge of the largest electric station in Mex- 
ico. He won the office, you know, about 
a year or so ago. President Madero held 
competitive examinations in Mexico City. 
Harry carried off the highest honors. But 
from what he told me he was rather hard 
pressed by several other good electrical 
engineers, both Americans and Mexicans. I 
guess he expected to lose his position when 
Huerta won the revolution and deposed 
Madero. But the new president reappointed 
him.” 

Jack was greatly pleased to learn that Dr. 


34 jack straw in MEXICO 

Moorland's relative was so well liked by his 
former classmate. It served to increase his 
interest in the man whose plans he was carry- 
ing and he concluded that his visit to Mexico 
was destined to be very pleasant with Mr. 
Ryder as his host. He became silent after 
that, for his thoughts were far away, antici- 
pating his sojourn in the land that Cortez con- 
quered. The voice of Mr. Warner inter- 
rupted this pleasant mental occupation. 

^Xook over there on the horizon. That's 
a storm cloud. I rather think it's fixing for a 
blow. Do you ever get seasick?" he queried. 

‘Well, I've never had an opportunity to find 
out," said Jack, “for you see this is my first 
experience on salt water." 

“Well, you'll know within an hour. It's 
freshening up now and before long the boat 
will be pitching around like a Mexican burro, 
a beast you are destined to become acquainted 
with before you have traveled in Mexico very 
long." 

Jack smiled at Mr. Warner’s simile, but it 
was not long before he noticed that the long 


SEASICK 


35 


rolling swells had changed to white crested 
waves that pounded against the steel sides of 
the Yucatan with a hiss and a shower of salt 
spray. The pitching of the ship had in- 
creased, too, by the time he and Mr. Warner 
went below for luncheon. Indeed, he found 
it rather hard to follow his companion across 
the dining saloon without seeming to stagger. 
At the same time he began to feel very pe- 
culiarly. It was as if he had been swinging 
around and around so violently that he had 
finally become very dizzy. He tried his best 
to hide his feelings from Mr. Warner, hoping 
that he would be a little better after he had 
eaten. But his companion looked at him 
sharply as he took his seat at the table and 
Jack was certain that he saw the semblance of 
a smile about the corners of his mouth. This 
nettled the boy and he determined that he 
would master the peculiar feeling immediately. 
About that time, however, the waiter placed a 
plate of hot soup before him. Jack looked 
at it once and all his self-control vanished. 
Somehow the sight of food made him ex- 


36 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

tremely ill and without even the formality of 
excusing himself he pushed back his chair and 
bolted for his stateroom. 

Life hardly seemed worth living to Jack 
Straw during the next three days for he was 
so ill that he could not stir out of his stateroom. 
The Yucatan pitched and rolled as if she was 
being tossed about for a plaything by some 
very inconsiderate giant, and it frequently 
seemed to the boy that the steel hull was on 
the point of foundering under the heavy seas 
that broke against it. Nor did Jack care par- 
ticularly whether it did or not. 

Several times he made an attempt to leave 
his stateroom, believing that he would feel 
very much better if he could only reach deck. 
But each time he left his berth he became so 
nauseated that he was glad to climb back 
again. Mr. Warner made three efforts to 
visit him but Jack had bolted the door against 
all intruders, including a solicitous steward 
who tried to persuade him to drink a cup of 
tea and eat some hot toast. 

On the morning of the fourth day out, how- 
ever, he awoke to find himself much relieved. 


SEASICK 


37 


To be sure he was very weak, but the sea had 
gone down and walking was not the effort it 
had been before. He found himself able to 
eat a light breakfast and later he managed to 
reach his steamer chair into which he sank 
with a sigh of relief. He was not the only 
passenger convalescing. Indeed all the occu- 
pants of the steamer chairs were pale and weak 
appearing and Jack found a great deal of satis- 
faction in knowing that others had been af- 
fected by the storm. 

The Yucatan was plowing her way through 
the dark blue water of the Gulf, riding the long 
lazy swells with graceful ease, and to Jack, 
who had never before been out of sight of 
land, the vast stretch of water was awe-inspir- 
ing. The vessel seemed small and insignificant 
out there all alone and he wondered how Co- 
lumbus and other early adventurers had ever 
found courage enough to sail for weeks over 
untraveled seas knowing so little of their 
destination. In fact, how mariners could 
navigate a vessel even with present-day charts 
and equipment seemed a mystery to the boy 
from Vermont. 


38 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

Late that afternoon while Jack was trying 
to get interested in a book that he had brought 
from his stateroom, Mr. Warner appeared on 
deck. ‘‘ By George,’’ he exclaimed as he 
caught sight of Jack, ‘‘you’re not the boy with 
whom I was talking a day or so ago! Why, 
you look as pale as a ghost. You must have 
had a rather disagreeable few days. Well, we 
did run through something of a blow and I 
guess you weren’t the only one who was sea- 
sick. To tell the truth, I felt a little squeamish 
myself for a time.” 

“I think it was about the most unpleasant 
sensation I ever had,” said Jack. 

“You are right,” said Mr. Warner; “but 
most of us have to experience it sometime. 
Well, you are headed straight for your destina- 
tion now. I expect we will reach Tampico by 
late to-morrow night or the following morn- 
ing, and after that it is only a day to Vera 
Cruz. I am rather glad I came across you 
here, for I’ve a lot of figuring to do on some 
specifications I brought with me and I may 
not have an opportunity to see you again be- 
fore I land. I’ll say good-by to you now and 


SEASICK 


39 


let me wish you the very best of luck in Mexico, 
Be sure and remember me to Harry Ryder 
when you see him and tell him also that I may 
find an opportunity to visit him if I am in 
Mexico long enough.’’ 

Jack shook his hand warmly, for he had 
come to like the marine engineer a great deal. 

‘‘I am sure we shall see each other again 
some day,” he said as they parted company. 


CHAPTER IV 

AT ODDS WITH CUSTOMS INSPECTORS 

T hough it was hardly daylight Jack 
was up and dressed and on deck when 
the Mexican pilot came aboard to take the 
Yucatan into Vera Cruz. A filmy blue mist 
was rising from the broad surface of the har- 
bor, making the white walled seaport seem 
like a dream city. Dawn, like twilight, in the 
Tropics is of brief duration, and the boy from 
New England scarcely had time to mark the 
fleeting changes of color along the eastern 
horizon before the sun came up, dispelling at 
once the lingering night mist. And with the 
coming of day the city and the harbor became 
alive. Tiny sail boats put out and from 
wharves and jetties here and there puffing 
tugs made their appearance. 

Jack Straw watched the scene with eager 

40 


AT ODDS WITH INSPECTORS 41 

interest. It was all so new and so very unlike 
what he had expected that he became 
thoroughly fascinated. Off to the right he 
beheld the frowning walls of the old fortress 
and military prison of San Juan de Ulloa. 
He recalled stories he had heard of its dun- 
geons where numberless horrible executions 
had taken place, and he wondered how many 
enemies of Huerta lingered there at the pres- 
ent time. From this grim building he turned 
his attention to the city. The spires of the 
cathedral showed high above the housetops, 
and as Jack caught sight of them there arose 
the most confused jargon of metallic sound 
that he had ever heard. It was as if a regi- 
ment of blacksmiths were beating on cracked 
anvils. He did not learn until he landed that 
these sounds emanated from the belfry of the 
cathedral and were caused by a group of bell 
ringers bent on calling the population to early 
mass. 

In due time, after port inspectors, quaran- 
tine officers, and a host of other uniformed in- 
dividuals had climbed aboard and inspected 
every one and everything in sight, the Yuca- 


42 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

tan was permitted to make her way slowly to 
the Pringle Line wharf. 

Jack, valise in hand, was among the first 
down the gang-plank, but he had hardly put 
foot on the dock before he was accosted by an- 
other uniformed attendant who spoke very 
poor English. The boy managed after a great 
deal of effort to understand that he was one of 
the customs inspectors and that he was about 
to make an examination of the contents of the 
valise. Jack willingly unlocked the leather 
bag and permitted the swarthy searcher to 
tumble its contents about until he became con- 
vinced that the youth had nothing on which 
he could collect duty. But he did not seem 
satisfied. He looked at Jack from head to 
heels, noting particularly each one of his 
pockets. Then suddenly he pointed to where 
the leather wallet and drawing made the boy's 
coat bulge slightly. 

'What — ah — have. Ah — you — ah — er — " 
he puzzled his brain to know how to finish the 
sentence in English. But finally becoming ex- 
asperated he tapped Jack's coat violently with 
his fingers. 


AT ODDS WITH INSPECTORS 43 

'^Aqui! Aqui! AquiT (here! here! here!) 
he demanded. Jack did not understand the 
Spanish, but he knew that the leather wallet in- 
terested the inspector. He hesitated to pro- 
duce it at first and tried to satisfy the dark- 
visaged little man by telling him that it was 
only a wallet. But the Mexican would not be 
contented and in the end the boy had to reveal 
to him the contents of the yellow leather case. 
At the sight of the blue prints and sketches the 
native became thoroughly aroused. He tried 
to ask questions in English but became so 
very confused that he resorted to his native 
tongue and talked a perfect stream of Spanish. 
And of course Jack was unable to understand 
a word of it. 

Then the Mexican beckoned the young 
American to follow him, pointing at the same 
time to a long low stone building near by which 
Jack concluded was the custom house. To- 
gether they hurried across the street, the in- 
spector chattering so hard that Jack’s protests 
were lost completely. 

The man led the way through several 
rather poorly kept offices to the far end of the 


44 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

building, where they entered what was evi- 
dently the room of the Chief Inspector of the 
port. An elderly and very dignified old gen- 
tleman was the sole occupant. He was seated 
at a desk in the far corner, but at their com- 
ing he arose and advanced to meet them. 
Immediately the little inspector became 
thoroughly animated. He opened the wallet 
(upon which he had kept a firm grip since 
Jack gave it to him) and spread the drawings 
on the table before his superior, talking very 
fast all the while. Together the two Mexi- 
cans examined each sketch, then finally the old 
man turned and spoke to Jack. 

''Do you converse Mexican?’' he queried 
and Jack shook his head. 

The Chief Inspector clapped his hands 
twice, whereat a servant appeared, to disap- 
pear immediately upon receiving a few abrupt 
instructions. Shortly after the servant en- 
tered again followed by a light-haired youth of 
about Jack’s own age, and undoubtedly an 
American. The boy from Vermont was de- 
cidedly pleased, but before he could speak the 
Chief Inspector addressed the newcomer, 


AT ODDS WITH INSPECTORS 45 

pointing to the drawings and the wallet at the 
conclusion of his remarks. 

‘^He wants to know what these drawings 
are/’ said the interpreter; ‘‘he thinks that you 
are a spy in the employ of the revolutionists 
and that these papers are very important.” 

“Please tell him,” said Jack with a smile, 
“that the drawings are valuable only to one 
person and he is the man who is making the 
electricity which lights President Huerta’s 
palace and the streets of Mexico City.” 

There was a decided change in the attitude 
of both officials when this was translated for 
them. The Chief Inspector bowed and smiled 
most apologetically. 

“So, Sehor Ryder. He is your friend?” he 
said; “he is a — ” but he could get no further 
with his English, so he addressed the rest to 
the interpreter who imparted it to Jack. 

“He says that Mr. Ryder is a very wonder- 
ful man and that if you are his friend he is 
sorry that he detained you. You are free to 
go now,” said the American, and Jack, after 
thanking the dignified old Mexican, tucked the 
wallet into his pocket and left the office. In 


46 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

the corridor of the building he was overtaken 
by the interpreter, who paused a moment to 
speak. 

‘‘My name is Dave Anson,’’ he said, “and 
if I can help you any, while you are in Vera 
Cruz, just let me know. I always like to help 
out a fellow countryman.” 

“You have done a great deal for me al- 
ready,” said Jack, “for if it had not been for 
you I am afraid I would have found myself in 
a mighty unhappy position. I certainly am 
obliged to you.” 

“Oh, don’t mention it,” said Anson, then in 
an undertone he added, “Don’t let the old chap 
deceive you. I could see he was rather skepti- 
cal about what you said, but he is afraid to de- 
tain you any longer for fear you might have a 
little more pull than he has, so he let you go. 
Don’t worry ; you’ll be shadowed every minute 
that you are in Vera Cruz, so mind your ac- 
tions. Well, so long and good luck to you.” 
The two boys shook hands warmly and parted. 

Jack gave little thought to his recent experi- 
ence after he left the custom house, for he had 


AT ODDS WITH INSPECTORS 47 

a great deal to attend to. First of all he must 
find a banking house where he could get his 
American money exchanged for Mexican cur- 
rency. Dr. Moorland had given him the ad- 
dress of one of the few honest banking firms 
in Vera Cruz, and after a long search he lo- 
cated the place. He was very much surprised 
to find that for every one of his American dol- 
lars he received two Mexican dollars in ex- 
change. Indeed, his capital was doubled and 
when he left the bank his trousers’ pockets and 
wallet were weighted down with huge silver 
coins. Jack’s next object was to find the rail- 
road terminal, and since an English speaking 
clerk had given him explicit directions as to 
its location he experienced little or no diffi- 
culty in finding the long low building with its 
dirty trainshed. 

A great many of the railroad men in Mexico 
above the grade of brakemen are Americans 
and the young traveler had very little trouble 
at the station. He learned, however, that he 
had two hours to wait before the next train to 
the capital would be made up, and after buy- 


48 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

ing his ticket and making Pullman reservations 
he checked his valise and started on a trip 
about the city. 

Through hot unshaded streets he wandered, 
peering into the curious little shops and watch- 
ing with interest the swarthy people. Finally 
he reached the broad plaza with its imposing 
cathedral, bandstand and line upon line of park 
benches. Here he sat down to rest and watch 
a score of dirty, half-clad children playing on 
the sidewalk. They were apparently taking 
part in a game and Jack tried very hard to un- 
derstand the details of it. Indeed he became 
so interested that he did not realize some one 
had taken the seat beside him until he felt a 
hand upon his arm. 

''Un centavo, Senor, un centavo'' pleaded a 
whining voice, and Jack found himself ac- 
costed by a very ugly and dirty-looking Mexi- 
can with a monstrous hat. Though the lad 
did not understand his language he had little 
difficulty in guessing that the man was begging 
for money. Eager to be quit of such an un- 
couth companion he took several small coins 
from his coat pocket and dropped them into 


AT ODDS WITH INSPECTORS 49 

the beggar’s outstretched palm. But as he 
did so he looked up to find a man on a bench 
not far distant watching him closely. 

He was rather well dressed when compared 
to others Jack had noticed about the city, wear- 
ing an unusually large sombrero of much bet- 
ter texture than that of the beggar’s. The 
brim and band about the crown was embel- 
lished with Indian beadwork which made it 
very picturesque. On being observed this man 
lowered his eyes and began to roll a black paper 
cigarette, nor did he look up again until Jack 
left the bench and started across the plaza. 
However, he watched the lad’s movements 
from the corner of his eye until the Vermonter 
turned toward the street that led to the rail- 
road terminal. Then he arose and followed at 
a distance. 


CHAPTER V 

IN THE HANDS OF THE SECRET SERVICE 


A lthough the train for Mexico City 
was due to leave Vera Cruz promptly 
on the hour, it was forty minutes late when 
it started to get underway. This slight dis- 
regard for schedule did not surprise Jack, 
however, for already he had discovered this 
natural failing of all Mexicans. The Pullman 
coach in which he had secured accommoda- 
tions was fortunately one of a number of 
American-built cars that had been taken over 
the Rio Grande and into Mexico from time to 
time during the extension of the national rail- 
road system, and in consequence the young 
traveler did not suffer much from lack of com- 
fort. Before he had traveled very long Jack 
realized that he had embarked upon the most 
interesting portion of his journey to the power 
plant. The train sped along through the most 


IN HANDS OF SECRET SERVICE 51 

wonderful country that he had ever seen. 
Now he was racing through deep ravines with 
perpendicular walls of rock rising so high that 
daylight was almost shut out and perpetual 
twilight reigned. From this he was whisked 
into broad valleys with mountain ranges tow- 
ering on either side. And often the tracks led 
high up on the sides of one of these mountains, 
revealing a broad panorama of tropical coun- 
try, with Popocatepetl, the monstrous vol- 
cano, in the distance. 

Now and then Indian villages were passed 
and Jack caught fleeting glimpses of a group 
of thatched huts and adobes and crowds of 
naked children and half-clad men and women 
who stared stolidly at the train as it shot by. 
Occasionally a stop was made at some large 
town and picturesque groups of Mexicans 
gathered at the station to stare in wonder- 
ment at the passengers. Always these groups 
were made up entirely of men, for the women 
had far too much to do to waste time idly 
watching trains. These men were a mot- 
ley throng, all wearing high-crowned, broad- 
brimmed hats and gaily colored serapes, or 


52 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

blankets, which they hugged close about them 
in spite of the heat. The better dressed wore 
trousers that were extremely tight fitting. 
The others, however, wore frayed and tattered 
garments made of everything from sail cloth 
to sacking and ungainly sandals bound across 
the arch and around the ankle with long buck- 
skin thongs. Not a shoe did Jack discover 
among them. 

What with the scenery and the picturesque 
towns and villages. Jack’s interest was kept 
out of doors for several hours. But eventu- 
ally even the novelty of traveling through a 
foreign country grew wearisome and he 
turned his attention to a book that he had 
stowed away in his traveling bag. He had not 
been reading long, however, before he began 
to be troubled by a strange presentiment that 
some one was watching him. Quite involun- 
tarily he glanced up from the page he was 
perusing and looked into the bead-like eyes of 
a native who was occupying a Pullman chair 
at the other end of the car. Instantly the 
Mexican’s eyes were turned away. The lad 
became suspicious immediately, for he recog- 


IN HANDS OF SECRET SERVICE 53 

nized the man as the one who had watched 
him in the plaza at Vera Cruz. There was 
no mistaking him, for he wore the same big- 
brimmed sombrero with its curious beadwork 
binding. 

Jack instinctively put his hand to the pocket 
where he kept the wallet of drawings, for he 
had a vague feeling that this man was inter- 
ested in them, though he really could not un- 
derstand why he should be since they had not 
been exhibited at any place save in the cus- 
tom house. Then he suddenly recalled the 
young American interpreter's warning that he 
would probably be closely watched at all 
times! Was this man shadowing him? Had 
he been trailed all through Vera Cruz? The 
thought angered him and he glanced at the 
Mexican again. That individual, however, 
had removed his big hat and was gazing calmly 
out of the window, as if he did not know that 
Jack Straw ever existed, and his unconcerned 
manner caused the young traveler to wonder 
whether this second meeting was only a 
strange coincidence after all. 

Jack tried to resume his reading, but it was 


54 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

not long before his mind was far from the 
printed pages and busy evolving a plan 
whereby he could become certain as to whether 
the tall Mexican was watching him or not. 
Soon the train began to slow down for another 
stop and on the instant the American got an 
idea. He waited until the train came to a 
full stop; then as if he suddenly realized that 
this was the station he wanted to get off at 
he jumped up and seizing his traveling bag 
bolted for the door. 

It was all done so quickly that the Mexican 
was taken completely off his guard. When he 
saw the boy rush for the door he gave one 
hurried glance up the car, then followed as 
fast as he could. By the time he reached the 
door, however. Jack had alighted and was rac- 
ing along the side of the car to the rear plat- 
form where he swung aboard and returned to 
the seat he had just vacated. He had success- 
fully lost the Mexican for five minutes at least, 
for the man searched up and down the station 
platform and in all directions trying to locate 
the Vermonter. Then, purely by accident, he 


IN HANDS OF SECRET SERVICE 55 

looked toward the train again and saw Jack 
smiling at him from one of the windows. 

It was evident from his distorted features 
that the native was thoroughly enraged. He 
plunged for the train which was already un- 
derway and swinging aboard hurried into the 
Pullman car, brandishing a huge army re- 
volver as he advanced. Several women pas- 
sengers screamed and every man in the car 
put his hands above his head when they saw 
the angered native striding down the aisle. 
They were certain that the train had been 
boarded by highwaymen and that they were 
about to be asked to turn over their valuables. 
But the Mexican disregarded the disturbance 
he had caused. He put the muzzle of the ugly 
revolver against Jack’s breast and hissed: 

‘‘You, gringo, you are arrest for a spy of the 
revolution. Not holler.” 

But Jack did not intend to “holler.” With 
the hard nose of the gun pressed against his 
ribs he did not hesitate to put his hands above 
his head as the other men in the train had 
done. 


56 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

‘‘You are arrest by that great Secret Service 
of Mexico/’ said the native very impressively; 
“give me up your guns.” 

“I have no guns that are dangerous.” said 
Jack Straw, and he spoke the truth, for the big 
Colt that his father had given him reposed un- 
loaded and quite harmless in the bottom of 
his valise. But the Mexican refused to be- 
lieve him. 

“Give up or I make of you an examination,” 
he said, trying hard to be courteous in spite 
of his outraged temper. 

“Search,” said Jack, “only let me put my 
arms down.” And the detective forthwith be- 
gan to go through his pockets while the other 
passengers, many of whom were Americans, 
gathered around and looked on. One of the 
first things that the detective did was to con- 
fiscate the yellow wallet with the drawings. 
His eyes sparkled with pleasure when he 
opened it. 

“ Ah ! Senor, it is for these you will be shot, 
maybe. You are a bad gringo,” he said with 
an evil chuckle. 


IN HANDS OF SECRET SERVICE 57 

‘They are only working drawings of a ma- 
chine/' protested Jack. 

“Yes, a war machine, I think," said the 
Mexican, continuing his search for firearms. 
Finally, after finding nothing more formidable 
than a jack-knife, the officer put his own re- 
volver away and informed Jack that he might 
sit down and be at ease until they reached 
Mexico City. He warned the boy, however, 
that any attempt on his part to leave the car 
would call forth the huge revolver again, and 
since Jack had no desire to learn how good a 
marksman the Mexican was he refrained from 
rising from his Pullman chair for the rest of 
the afternoon. The Secret Service man sat 
directly opposite, his dark eyes never moving 
from the lad from Drueryvill'e. 


CHAPTER VI 

ON. TRIAL AS A SPY. 

T he lights of Mexico City were a wel- 
come sight to the young American. 
Never had a train ride seemed so long. The 
Secret Service guard refused to allow him con- 
versation with his fellow-passengers and as 
the circumstances were too strained to permit 
his reading with any degree of interest, Jack 
had little to do but gaze out of the window 
and think over his misfortune. The moment 
the train rolled into the station, the detective 
hustled Jack to the military barracks in the 
heart of the city. It was almost midnight 
when they were challenged by the white-clad 
sentry before the heavy double gates of the 
enclosure. Jack’s captor answered with a few 
brief sentences in Spanish and the gates were 
unbarred to let them pass. Inside another 
sentry located the officer on duty and he and 
58 






4 


ON TRIAL AS A SPY 


59 

the Secret Service man held a short confer- 
ence. A few moments later two privates were 
summoned. They took charge of the young 
Vermonter, escorting him toward the far end 
of the long barracks buildings, where he was 
locked into a stuffy unlighted cell in the guard- 
house. 

To Jack it all seemed like a horrible night- 
mare. Here he was a prisoner in the capital 
of a strange country. He had no knowledge 
of the language spoken by those with whom 
he had to deal, nor did he have friends or rela- 
tives within several thousand miles. His only 
hope in being delivered from his rather seri- 
ous position lay in the possibility of calling 
Harry Ryder to Mexico City so that he could 
identify his drawings and explain how they 
came to be in the possession of some other 
person. But Jack was not altogether certain 
that this could be done, or if it could be done, 
whether his captors would be willing to take 
that much trouble to prove him innocent. At 
first he had taken the arrest more or less as a 
joke, but as he reviewed the various stories 
he had heard of the Mexican idea of justice. 


6o JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

he became very much worried. He knew the 
punishment meted out to a spy and he won- 
dered whether that would be his end. With 
such thought parading through his brain, he 
had little chance for sleep that night. Indeed 
he heard a big clock beyond the barracks walls 
toll every hour from midnight until dawn. 

At seven o’clock breakfast was brought to 
him by an uncouth looking private in a dirty 
white uniform. The meal consisted of tor- 
tillas, made of corn flour, and frijoles, which 
are black Mexican beans. There was not 
even a cup of water with which to wash it 
down. Though Jack had had very little to 
eat the day before, the sight of the mess 
brought by the soldier sickened him, and he 
put the tin plate aside untouched. 

An hour later an oflicer with four privates 
came into the guardhouse and unlocked the 
door of Jack’s cell. The lad observed that 
each of the soldiers carried a shining rifle at 
port arms and the officer entered with sword 
drawn. At this he became speechless with 
horror. Was this a firing squad! Was he 
going to be executed without the formality of 


ON TRIAL AS A SPY 6i 

trial? He was almost too weak to walk when 
the officer spoke to him in Spanish and mo- 
tioned for him to come forth. Silently the 
soldiers formed behind him and urged him 
forward out of the guardhouse and on to the 
parade grounds. 

His heart-breaking suspense ended there, 
however, when he noted the direction in which 
the soldiers turned him. Instead of marching 
out into the center of the enclosure they headed 
directly for a building that looked very much 
like a large dwelling. To the young Ameri- 
can it appeared as if it might be the home of 
the commander of the barracks. He hoped it 
was, for in that case he could be certain of 
some form of trial at least, during which he 
could doubtlessly explain about the drawings. 

The boy was ushered before the austere old 
General by the officer alone, the guard remain- 
ing on duty before the door. The commander 
was seated at a desk in the center of a well- 
lighted, cheerful-looking room, a uniformed 
orderly at his elbow. The other occupant of 
the room was the Secret Service man who had 
arrested him the day before. Both were por- 


62 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

ing over the drawings of the lightning arrester 
which the detective had confiscated, while on 
the corner of the officer’s desk was Jack’s 
traveling bag which had been forced open, 
possibly for the purpose of finding other evi- 
dence against him. 

The detective and the officer looked up as the 
youth entered. Jack’s officer escort saluted 
and retired to the rear of the room, leaving the 
lad standing in the middle of the floor alone. 
The detective cleared his throat and spoke. 

“I shall be what you call the interpreter. I 
spik Mexican, I spik also Inglis. Shall you 
be content?” he queried. 

‘T will be contented if you will believe what 
I tell you,” said Jack rather curtly. ‘Tt is ri- 
diculous to arrest me as a spy. I am an Amer- 
ican citizen and those drawings are not war 
plans or details of a Var machine,’ as you sug- 
gested yesterday. They are plans for an elec- 
trical appliance that is to be built by Mr. 
Harry Ryder, in order to give better light to 
Mexico City.” 

The detective looked at him with doubt 
plainly written on his countenance. Then he 


ON TRIAL AS A SPY 63 

turned and in rapid fire sentences imparted 
Jack’s story to the general. The officer also 
appeared to doubt the youth’s statement. He 
was silent for a few moments, however, while 
he pondered the situation; then through the 
interpreter he asked: 

''Why does Mr. Ryder trust his valuable pa- 
pers to you?” 

"Because he didn’t care to trust your unre- 
liable mail service,” said Jack vindictively. 

The wrath of the detective was stirred im- 
mediately. 

"Mexico is a great country. She has a de- 
pendability of mail service. You are a gringo 
who spies for the revolution. Do not tell me 
not. I saw you with my own eyes pass some 
secret something to a sympathizer in the plaza 
at Vera Cruz. Ah, but he are arrest already 
and your secret is now known.” 

Jack was startled at first. Then as he re- 
called the whining beggar in the plaza he 
laughed heartily. 

"Why, he was only a beggar. I gave him a 
few coins. You are making a mountain out 
of a mole hill, Mr. Detective. Why not have 


64 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

done with all the foolishness by summoning 
Mr. Ryder from Necaxa? He will prove that 
the drawings are his and that I am no spy.’’ 

The General and the Secret Service man de- 
bated this suggestion for some time. Evi- 
dently they thought it a good idea, for the 
officer presently began to use the telephone at 
his elbow while the detective talked to Jack. 

^'We will call Sehor Ryder. General 
Rodriguez say the great electrical engineer is 
in Mexico City now. He spoke with him in 
the cafe last evening. He will come maybe, 
and then if you can prove, you must prove. 
If you don’t, you will be shot to-morrow.” 

The commander ceased his telephoning 
after a few moments and spoke to the in- 
terpreter, who, turning to Jack, announced: 

‘'Sehor Ryder is at the office of the Com- 
pania de Luz y Fuerza Montriz in Calle de 
Tetuan. He will be here quite soon.” 

The General and the Secret Service agent 
spent the next fifteen minutes smoking nu- 
merous black paper cigarettes and talking 
quite excitedly to each other while Jack was 
left standing in the center of the room. The 


ON TRIAL AS A SPY 65 

waiting was ages long for the American. But 
finally there sounded the tooting of an auto- 
mobile horn and roar of a motor from the 
parade ground outside and a moment later a 
tall fine-looking American, clad in linen 
trousers and soft shirt, entered the com- 
mander’s office. 

Jack stepped forward instantly and held 
out his hand. 

‘‘Mr. Ryder,” he said, “I am John Straw- 
bridge, Dr. Moorland’s messenger. I have 
been arrested and am being held as a spy be- 
cause I happened to have your drawings in my 
wallet. You see it excited the curiosity of 
the customs inspector yesterday and the result 
is I am in the hands of the Mexican Secret 
Service to-day. I sincerely hope that you can 
get me out of this rather disagreeable position ; 
otherwise I’ll furnish the target for a firing 
squad to-morrow morning.” 

“Why, this is ridiculous,” said Mr. Ryder as 
he saw his drawings spread out before Gen- 
eral Rodriguez. Then he began to talk in 
Spanish to the natives. A few moments con- 
versation was all that was necessary to con- 


66 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

vince the Secret Service agent and the officer 
that a serious mistake had been made, and 
each was profuse in his apologies to Jack 
Straw. 

‘Tt is a great regret that I arrest so hon- 
orable friend of Sehor Ryder,” said the de- 
tective with a sweeping bow. “I hope you will 
pardon, Sehor.” 

And Jack showed the sort of stuff Ameri- 
cans are made of by stepping forward and 
warmly shaking hands with the Secret Service 
agent and the commander. 


CHAPTER VII 


OFF FOR NECAXA 

J ACK was not long in discovering that 
Harry Ryder was a prince of companions. 
After the little incident at the barracks they 
were fast friends. Of course the engineer 
was somewhat older than the boy from 
Drueryville, having just turned twenty-nine, 
but withal he was decidedly boyish in spirit. 
The big gray motor car that stood in front of 
the commander’s house was the engineer’s 
latest toy and nothing would do but that Jack 
should accompany him on a tour of the capital 
of ‘'this benighted country,” as he termed 
Mexico. And he made an excellent guide. 

Until long after midday they went flying up 
one street and down another, while Mr. Ryder 
pointed out all the places of interest. First 
they visited the Plaza Mayor, or Zocalo, as it 
is frequently called. And while Jack was 
67 


68 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

noting each interesting detail about the im- 
posing public buildings, the Cathedral and the 
National Palace, the engineer explained the 
history of that remarkable section of the City 
of Mexico. 

‘‘This,’’ he said, “was the heart of the Aztec 
capital four hundred or more years ago. In- 
deed, that building over there, the National 
Palace, was constructed on the very site of 
the splendid palace of the old Indian ruler 
Montezuma. And as for the Cathedral, that 
is built on the very foundation stones that held 
the wonderful Tecalli, the Aztec temple, 
where from twenty to fifty thousand lives were 
sacrificed annually to the powerful Indian 
deity Huitzilopotchli. The present Cathedral 
with its towering spires was erected in 1573 
and is the most imposing edifice of its kind in 
the whole of North and South America.” 

From the Plaza Mayor they turned to other 
interesting portions of the community. The 
famous tree under which Cortez is said to have 
wept was pointed out by Mr. Ryder; also the 
various monuments and buildings associated 
with the old Spanish adventurer. They trav- 


OFF FOR NECAXA 


69 

ersed the causeway over which Cortez re- 
treated and ultimately visited Chapultepec 
where the Indian rulers once maintained mag- 
nificent dwellings. 

It was nearly one o’clock when the car rolled 
into the heart of the city again and stopped be- 
fore the door of the American Hotel. There 
Jack and the engineer climbed out, but before 
Mr. Ryder entered the hotel he inspected his 
new machine thoroughly. 

‘That’s a great plaything,” he said enthusi- 
astically ‘T bought it a month ago, and I 
usually arrange to get into the city every 
Sunday to take a drive. You see I have to 
leave it here because there is no roadway out 
to Necaxa, only a pack train trail and our nar- 
row-gage railroad. I couldn’t very well use 
it out at the power plant anyway for it’s a 
trackless wilderness there.” 

On entering the hostelry the two Americans 
lost no time in finding the dining-room, for the 
drive had given them both a ravenous appetite. 
They ate in silence for a time, for the business 
of satisfying their hunger was of great im- 
portance. But when cofifee was finally served 


70 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

and each felt that they had done credit to the 
ample portions afforded to them, Mr. Ryder 
began to talk. 

‘‘You know, Jack, I think it was mighty 
lucky for you that I happened to be in Mexico 
City. Otherwise you would probably have 
been compelled to spend several days in jail. 
And it is even possible that they would not have 
taken the trouble to send to Necaxa for me. A 
Mexican’s idea of justice is rather crude. 
Frequently they shoot a suspect and then de- 
bate his guilt or innocence over his body. Old 
Rodriguez and his Secret Service friend were 
quite positive that you were a spy, and I am 
afraid that the cartridges with which you were 
to be executed had already been dealt out, fig- 
uratively speaking.” 

Jack shuddered as he thought of his narrow 
escape. 

“I guess that I was very fortunate having 
you so near at hand,” he said. 

“Well, I’ll be quite honest with you. Jack, 
this visit to Mexico City was not a matter of 
choice with me. I was requested to appear 
before the officials of the company and old 


OFF FOR NECAXA 


71 


Huerta himself. You see things have been in 
a devil of a mess at the plant recently and we 
have had some trouble in keeping the old city 
supplied with enough light. I fancy it has 
been getting on Huerta’s nerves and he has 
been calling the company’s officials to account. 
They in turn pass the calls along to me. 

^‘You see some of the hundred or more 
workmen at the plant have developed revolu- 
tionary ideas. They seem to be Zapata sym- 
pathizers and they are doing all they can to 
make things unpleasant for Huerta. They 
have been crippling machinery from time to 
time, tampering with the searchlights, putting 
dirt in the bearings of the generators and 
raising the dickens in general. Of course this 
reflects on my management and I feel rather 
ugly about it all. But the men who do it keep 
pretty well under cover. I wish that I could 
find out just which of the greasers are the trou- 
ble makers. I’d have them line up against the 
station wall and drilled through with some of 
their own soft-nosed bullets. That may sound 
a little inhuman, but honestly one cannot afford 
to treat them otherwise. As a matter of fact 


72 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

their fate is not in my hands. The moment 
we discover a sympathizer the rurales sta- 
tioned at the plant as special guards take the 
matter in their own hands and all that we hear 
of the case after that is the report of the car- 
bines. Oh, they make very little bones about 
human life down here. And that reminds me, 
have you provided yourself with a protector 
in the form of a revolver? If you haven’t 
we’ll see that you are supplied with one before 
we start back for the plant this afternoon.” 

'T have my father’s big blue steel Colt,” 
said Jack with pride. ‘Tt’s right here in my 
traveling bag. But I haven’t much ammuni- 
tion, only the cartridges in the belt.” 

‘‘Well, you’d better buckle it on your hip 
when we start. You will probably find a great 
deal of comfort in having it handy all the time 
you remain in Mexico. Why, you should see 
our plant. It’s a veritable fortress with its 
rows of trenches, its barbed-wire barriers, 
its squadron of rurales and detachment of in- 
fantry. And our working force is drilled to 
do some fine defense work too. We are all 
equipped with Mauser rifles and we have a 


OFF FOR NECAXA 


73 


battery o£ new French rapid-fire guns and a 
three-inch fieldpiece that can throw a shell 
clean over the top of the nearest mountain. 
We know it will do that for not long ago we 
had occasion to bombard a handful of Zapa- 
tistas from a position on the cliffs a mile away. 
The rats had an old fieldpiece and they man- 
aged to get a couple of solid ' shot down 
through the roof of a storehouse near the 
plant. Oh, we have had an interesting time 
out there for the last eight or ten months. 
The Zapatistas have been hovering around like 
a swarm of bees. They haven’t managed to 
do much damage, however, but we never know 
when they will be joined by other mobs of guer- 
rilla soldiers who are operating in that section 
of the mountains. When that happens then I 
guess we can look for real trouble. 

arranged with General Rodriguez last 
night to have another detachment of infantry 
accompany us to the plant this afternoon. I 
think it would be wise to strengthen the guard 
out there at any rate. We are going out on a 
train of flat cars that will be ready to move 
shortly so I guess we had better be getting 


74 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

ready. I’ll drive you over to a gunsmith’s and 
you can get all the ammunition you want, then 
we’ll start for the railroad.” 

At the gunshop Jack laid in five hundred 
rounds of ammunition. This seemed a ridicu- 
lously large amount but Mr. Ryder assured 
him that it was wise to be on the safe side in 
such matters. Several other stores were 
visited where Jack purchased some clothing 
suggested by Mr. Ryder for service at the 
plant. The most important purchase was one 
of the huge sombreros such as the natives 
wear. This was secured at a little hat booth 
on one of the side streets. Jack was amazed 
at the size of some of these hats and while he 
was looking over the assortment offered, Mr. 
Ryder explained that the natives were very 
vain about their hats. He said that in former 
days the wealthy Mexicans vied with each 
other to see who could wear the hat with the 
largest brim and the most costly embellish- 
ments. This competition reached the point 
where it finally became a public nuisance, for 
the big hat brims were decidedly objectionable 
on crowded thoroughfares or street cars. The 


OFF FOR NECAXA 


75 

federal government finally took the matter in 
hand and imposed a tax of a certain amount 
for every four inches of brim over a stipulated 
size. This ordinance put the hat brims at a 
universal width. 

After the shopping they hurried back to the 
hotel where Mr. Ryder always maintained a 
room. Their clothes were changed and gar- 
ments of the rough-and-ready sort adopted. 
Jack felt very self-conscious as he buckled on 
the heavy revolver and donned the high- 
crowned sombrero, but he did his best to hide 
it from his companion. On his way out of the 
hotel, however, he surreptitiously glanced at 
his reflection in one of the large mirrors and 
found to his great satisfaction that such tog- 
gery was not at all unbecoming. He secretly 
resolved to have some photographs made 
which he intended to take back to Drueryville 
when he returned. 

The train that was to carry them out to 
Necaxa was, as the engineer had said, nothing 
more than a string of flat cars with a yellow 
caboose at the end. It was a narrow gage 
railroad that was built especially to carry sup- 


76 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

plies to the power station, one hundred and 
twenty-five miles back in the mountains. 

Two of the flat cars were heaped high with 
boxes of provisions and barrels of flour, all on 
the way to the little community at the power 
house. Three other cars were occupied by the 
detachment of infantry from the barracks. 
The soldiers were not a prepossessing lot. Jack 
thought, as he viewed them. They were uni- 
formed alike, of course, and for the most the 
uniforms were in rather good order though 
somewhat dirty. Their hats were not unlike 
the forage caps of the United States troops 
during the Civil War, with the exception that 
they were higher in the crown. The men were 
all dark skinned and ugly looking, and the 
young American was quite certain that as 
enemies they would probably be decidedly 
vicious customers. 

Three officers accompanied the detachment 
but they held themselves aloof from the rest of 
the soldiers, sharing the caboose with Jack and 
Mr. Ryder. They were tall, fine-looking speci- 
mens of Mexican manhood, very jaunty in 
their gold-braided uniforms, and Jack found 


OFF FOR NECAXA 


77 


them very companionable after they became 
acquainted, for they could speak English after 
a fashion 'and some of the war stories they told 
helped to make the slow journey into the moun- 
tains less tedious. 

On leaving Mexico City the train started to 
climb immediately for the way was entirely up 
grade, the plant being situated at a higher 
altitude than the capital. As a result of this 
and the unusually heavy load, the little engine 
made slow progress. Indeed, at some points 
in spite of its snorting and puffing it could not 
go on and the men were forced to get down 
from the flat cars and walk, thereby lessening 
the load. Because of this slow progress it was 
long after nightfall when Jack discovered a 
long pencil of light reaching out across the sky. 
It looked weird and uncanny off there in the 
solitude of the mountains. But as he watched 
it began to move along the ridges, searching 
out each valley and depression. Then Jack 
understood. It was the huge searchlight at 
the plant, looking among the hills for lurking 
bands of Zapatistas. 

The lad watched the light travel from point 


78 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

to point until finally it located the supply train, 
which it escorted all the way to the station, il- 
luminating the tracks just ahead of the engine. 


CHAPTER VIII 


THE CRIPPLED GENERATORS 

I T was a veritable fortress that Jack entered 
when he left the caboose of the supply train. 
Before him, on a slight eminence, was the mas- 
sive building of the power station with the 
searchlight mounted on the roof. The grassy 
slope below was marred by a double line of 
trenches unoccupied, of course, save for one 
or two white-clad sentinels who paced back and 
forth restlessly. On the lawn between the 
first trench and the station, the lad noted a 
bulky object covered with canvas. This he 
immediately decided was the three-inch field- 
piece about which Mr. Ryder had spoken. To 
the north of the station was the irregular out- 
line of many small cottages. As the search- 
light threw its rays in that direction, the boy 
observed that nearly all of them were con- 
structed of wood and erected after the fash- 
79 


8o JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

ion of the cottages furnished to the quarry- 
men in Vermont. There were also several 
long low shed-like structures which he learned 
later housed the soldiers. The entire com- 
munity did not occupy more than five or six 
acres and was entirely cut off from the sur- 
rounding country by barbed wire barricades. 
Indeed, the place looked well-nigh impregnable 
to the American. To approach from the 
north, south or west, invaders would have to 
get through the mass of barbed wire first and 
carry two lines of trenches before they reached 
the station, and as far as the east side of the 
plant was concerned, approach in that direction 
was made impossible by the roaring mountain 
stream that furnished water to the station’s 
turbines. 

The enclosure became a perfect bedlam a 
few moments after the supply train rolled in. 
To the roar of the river and the grumble of the 
huge generators inside were added the shouts 
of the soldiers detraining and unloading the 
supplies. The entire barracks had turned out 
to welcome the reinforcements, for it happened 
that they composed two companies of the same 


THE CRIPPLED GENERATORS 8i 


regiment. Altogether Jack estimated that 
there were more than 200 men ready to defend 
the place against the rebels, not including the 
squad of twenty-five rurales who were sta- 
tioned there to patrol the surrounding country. 
The rurales, the lad learned, were not soldiers 
in the stricter sense of the word. They are 
maintained by the Mexican Government to do 
practically the same work as that required of 
the famous Canadian mounted police; which 
is to rid the country of bandits, smugglers and 
bad men, and run down the outlaws that hide 
in the mountains. They are far better drilled 
than any of the Mexican troups and are well 
equipped with clothing and firearms. Their 
horses are the best that Mexican dollars can 
buy. These men ride exceptionally well, shoot 
almost as accurately as the Texas ranger and 
are brave and fearless. A Mexican president 
who believed in the old saying that it takes a 
thief to catch a thief,’’ organized the rurales 
years ago when the country was infested with 
bandits and bad men. Every time one of these 
men was apprehended he was forced to join 
the rurales and hunt down bandits. In this 


82 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

way his vicious nature was well satisfied and 
at the same time he was able to consider him- 
self a law-abiding citizen, which usually ap- 
peals to all individuals who have been outlaws 
for any length of time. To Jack these soldier- 
policemen were very picturesque as they swag- 
gered about in their dark-green, tightly fitting 
uniforms and broad-brimmed hats. He no- 
ticed, however, that they did not associate with 
the white-clad regulars, but stood apart in a 
little group by themselves and watched the 
other men unload the cars. 

Mr. Ryder and Jack lingered long enough to 
see that the unloading was well under way be- 
fore they turned toward the station. 

‘TVe a strange premonition that the trouble- 
makers hereabout have taken advantage of my 
absence,’’ said the engineer as they approached 
the office. ‘T would not be surprised to find 
the plant dynamited some day. These rebel 
sympathizers will go the limit to make it dis- 
agreeable for old Huerta.” 

The office of Ben Nedham, first assistant en- 
gineer, was vacant. When Mr. Ryder saw 
this he looked worried. Immediately he 


THE CRIPPLED GENERATORS 83 

bounded up the spiral iron staircase to the bal- 
cony-like control room where the switchboards 
were located. Allen Lyman, a tall light-haired 
American in charge of that section of the 
plant, advanced to meet him, and his face also 
bore a troubled look. 

'They’ve been at it again, Mr. Ryder,” he 
exclaimed. "We haven’t been able to carry 
the load all evening. Machines five and six 
are out of commission. Couldn’t even start 
them. Nedham and a gang are down there on 
the generator floor now trying to patch them 
up.” 

"What is the trouble?” demanded the en- 
gineer, his brow wrinkled by a perplexed 
frown. 

"Well, some one got in after two o’clock this 
morning, evidently, and threw a bucket full of 
fire sand into the gears of both machines. 
Nedham has had only one watchman here and 
he must have gone to sleep.” 

"Have you heard from Mexico City yet?” 
demanded Mr. Ryder anxiously. 

"No, not yet, but we can gamble that the 
lights are mighty dim there. Shouldn’t won- 


84 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

der but what we’ll get a call before the night 
is over.” 

He had hardly completed the sentence when 
the telephone bell on the desk in the center of 
the room jangled sharply. 

''Dollars to doughnuts that’s Mexico City 
now,” exclaimed Lyman as he removed the re- 
ceiver. A moment he talked with the man 
on the other end of the line; then he beckoned 
to Mr. Ryder. 

"It’s President Huerta himself,” he said, 
holding his hand over the transmitter. " He’s 
as mad as a Mexican bull too. Wants to speak 
with you.” 

For fifteen minutes the chief engineer at- 
tempted to explain the situation to the coun- 
try’s executive, and in the meantime Jack 
busied himself trying to puzzle out the reason 
for all the switches, knobs, handles and in- 
dicators on the huge marble switchboard that 
extended all the way around the circular room. 
He knew that all the machinery in the station 
was controlled from that board, but just how 
it was done he had not the slightest idea. He 
decided, however, to take advantage of the first 


THE CRIPPLED GENERATORS 85 

opportunity and learn the function of each of 
the mysterious looking black rubber handles. 

Mr. Ryder left the ’phone apparently thor- 
oughly angry. He paced the narrow room for 
some time before he uttered a word. Finally, 
pausing before the desk again, he brought his 
fist down with a resounding blow. 

‘'By Jupiter,” he thundered, “this must stop 
or I’ll know the reason why. The old man is 
as peeved as a wet hen and I don’t blame him. 
He informed me that we had made a failure 
out of the most important state function of the 
year simply because the palace was so poorly 
lighted. They had to resort to smoky oil lamps 
to help out. He was furious. Told me the 
city looked like an Indian village, it was so 
dark. Oh, if I could only get my fingers on 
the villains who did this work !” 

Thus did he storm to Jack and the operator 
until he became thoroughly out of breath and 
was forced to pause. Then turning he called 
Jack and started down the spiral stairs again. 
Three flights they descended until they reached 
the floor of the generating room. Six huge 
generating units occupied the space. They 


86 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

were great black monsters of steel that 
looked like so many mastodons chained to the 
floor. Water was roaring down from the 
forebay through four of the massive pen- 
stocks that supplied the turbines, but the other 
two were silent. Around each of these silent 
machines was gathered a group of workmen. 
They had unbolted the steel protecting plates 
and were assiduously wiping the sand from 
the delicate armature bearings. Some of these 
workmen were Americans but there were a 
number of Mexicans among them, many of 
whom were distinctly of the peon class, with 
bared feet and shabby garments. 

As Jack and the engineer hurried across the 
floor a short, dark-haired American advanced 
to meet them. 

‘'We’ve trouble on our hands this time!” he 
exclaimed. “The two machines are full of 
sand and we won’t be able to get them cleaned 
until long after midnight.” 

“Well, how did it happen, Nedham?” de- 
manded Mr. Ryder. “You were in charge 
while I was away and you are responsible. 
Are you going to let this plant go to the devil? 


THE CRIPPLED GENERATORS 87 

I got a good blowing up yesterday from the 
board of directors and here to-night Presi- 
dent Huerta himself had me on the long dis- 
tance telephone. Told me flatly that things 
would have to go smoother; and I propose to 
see that they do go smoother hereafter.” 

^'How do I know how it happened? Maybe 
I was in charge, but they manage to work the 
same tricks when you are here too, so you 
can’t altogether blame me,” said Nedham in- 
dignantly. 

“Well, I suppose not,” replied Mr. Ryder in 
calmer tones. “I didn’t mean to accuse you of 
neglect of duty. I know they work the same 
tricks on me too. I hope you’ll pardon my 
temper.” 

The chief engineer extended his hand in cor- 
dial apology and Nedham grasped it, his anger 
disappearing immediately. 


CHAPTER IX 

JACK PROPOSES A TRAP 

N EDHAM was right. It was some time 
after midnight before the big gen- 
erators were in condition to operate again. 
For hours the men toiled to get every vestige 
of the gritty substance out of the machines. 
Mr. Ryder went at the task with the rest, and 
Jack, unwilling to remain idle, rolled up his 
sleeves and seized a piece of cotton waste also. 
With the steel jacket removed, an excellent op- 
portunity was afforded the lad for a better ac- 
quaintance with the mechanism of a water tur- 
bine generator, and as he worked beside Mr. 
Ryder, the engineer briefly explained the de- 
tails. 

'This is not really a generator that we are 
working on, Jack,’’ said Mr. Ryder, "because 
a generator is supposed to create energy. 
This does not do that. The real energy is in 


JACK PROPOSES A TRAP 89 


the water that turns the turbine, and this ma- 
chine merely converts that energy into electric 
current, so you see the word ‘generator’ is a 
misnomer in this case. It is the same in a 
steam plant. Steam furnishes energy which 
is converted into electricity by the so-called 
generators. In fact, man-made electricity is 
nothing more or less than some other kind of 
energy in a new and more useful form. I 
guess you follow me.” 

‘T understand all right,” said Jack, “for it 
is very simple, though I must confess I had 
never considered electricity in that way be- 
fore.” 

“The energy here comes from the water that 
plunges over the dam we built across the river 
about a mile back in the mountains. The dam 
is sixty-odd feet high and the water that is 
stored up behind it is carried down to the 
plant here through a very large flume. The 
flume is built at the same level as the dam and 
brings the water around the mountain to the 
north of the plant and into the big forebay or 
reservoir just back of the station. 

“The water in the forebay is kept at about 


90 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

the same height as the dam also, so it can get 
a sixty-foot direct drop to the turbines here 
in the building. The stream rushes down 
through the large penstocks, or feeders, and 
strikes against the mass of concaved blades on 
the waterwheel or turbine. The blades are set 
across the drum of the wheel and at a slight 
angle, thus giving the turbine the full benefit 
of the force of the water striking against them 
as well as the suction of the water after it 
leaves the blades. This is known as the re- 
action type of turbine and is only used in plants 
where the fall of water is less than loo feet. 
There is another type of waterwheel on which 
buckets take the place of blades. This is 
known as the impact type and is driven entirely 
by the pelting of the water against the bottom 
of each cup. This wheel is used chiefly where 
the fall of water is more than loo feet. 

‘The armature of the generator is also 
mounted on the shaft or axle of the turbine. 
The armature, you know, is composed of coils 
of wire wound very close together on an iron 
frame, or spider. Since the turbine whirls 
around very fast the armature is bound to 


JACK PROPOSES A TRAP 91 

turn at the same rate of speed. Now, the 
armature is surrounded by electrically excited 
magnets, which are the positive and nega- 
tive poles of the generator. And as the coils 
of wire on the armature rush past the magnets 
the attraction or lines of force between the 
poles are cut abruptly and immediately elec- 
tricity is created. By means of those brass 
collecting rings which you see on the armature 
the coils are connected to the transmission 
lines and the electricity flows through them to 
the lights in Mexico City.’’ 

Mr. Ryder’s description of the hydro-elec- 
tric plant was so simple and so easily under- 
stood that Jack was able to follow the entire 
process of converting water power into elec- 
trical energy. The conversation had also 
helped to lighten the rather disagreeable task 
of cleaning the generator and it was midnight 
almost before they realized it. 

At this hour Mr. Ryder gave up all hope of 
using the generator that night, for, as he ex- 
plained to Jack, the lights were fast being put 
out in the houses and stores of Mexico City, 
thus cutting down the load on the power plant 


92 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

to a point where the supply could be easily fur- 
nished by the remaining four machines. That 
being the case, he suggested they quit work 
and leave the task entirely to the peons 
and other workmen under Nedham. Jack’s 
arms were black to the elbow with dirty oil 
when he finally tossed his piece of waste away, 
and Mr. Ryder’s condition was little better. 

‘'Come on, we’ll wash up a bit and start for 
the cottage ; I am rather tired and I fancy you 
are too.” 

Together they proceeded to the washroom 
and a few moments later left the station build- 
ing and started up the short dusty street that 
led between the two rows of cottages. The 
searchlight was still playing from the roof and 
here and there a lonesome sentinel could be 
seen silhouetted against the skyline. Other- 
wise the little community was quite lifeless. 

Mr. Ryder’s cottage was at the very end of 
the short street. It was a one-story affair 
but somewhat more prepossessing in appear- 
ance than the rest of the dwellings. The 
engineer lived there entirely alone save for 
Tom Why, his aged Chinese cook. In fact, 


JACK PROPOSES A TRAP 93 

each American at the plant had a separate cot- 
tage, which was usually taken care of by some 
old Indian woman. There were only two 
white women in the village. One was the wife 
of Allen Lyman and the other was Mrs. Har- 
riet Clifford, the wife of a young American 
foreman in the plant-maintenance department. 

Mr. Ryder's cottage was no better furnished 
than any of the rest. The main room, which 
was living room, dining room, library and 
study all in one, was equipped with several 
heavy wooden chairs, a square table and a flat 
desk littered with old magazines and papers. 
The remaining three rooms boasted small iron 
beds and washstands. Just in the rear of the 
cottage was a little house in which Tom Why 
and his American cookstove were quartered. 
Tom was acknowledged to be the best cook 
in the village, excepting, of course, the two 
American women. 

Though it was very late, Tom was up and 
waiting for the engineer. He had prepared 
a rather substantial midnight luncheon and 
when Jack caught the odor of steaming coffee 
he suddenly realized that he was extremely 


94 jack straw in MEXICO 

hungry. Neither he nor Mr. Ryder had tasted 
food since their dinner at the American Hotel 
in Mexico City, and they were both ready to 
do justice to Tom’s tempting spread. Between 
mouthfuls, however, they did find time to talk 
over the recent trouble at the plant. 

‘T must get at the bottom of this and find 
out who the rebel sympathizers are. Of 
course they are among the peon laborers, at 
least I think so, for none of the white em- 
ployees have the slightest interest in Zapata 
and his gang of cutthroats, as far as I know. 
Still, the way the trouble makers have tam- 
pered with the big switches and other danger- 
ous machinery that most of the peons are 
afraid of, makes me believe sometimes that the 
culprits are white men or natives who know a 
little more about electricity than the peons.” 

‘T should think then, that you would try and 
find out whether you are dealing with peons 
or Mexicans of another variety,” said Jack. 

^Tind out!” demanded the engineer sharply. 
‘‘Do you think I have been sitting with my 
hands folded all this time? I’ve had the place 
watched. I’ve done everything I could to dis- 


f 


JACK PROPOSES A TRAP 95 

cover who is up to this crooked work. You 
see, after two in the morning things slacken 
down at the plant. There isn't much of a load 
to be carried, only the street lighting in Mex- 
ico City, and one or two generators are enough 
to take care of that. At that time most of 
the men leave the plant. There is only the 
night operator and two or three watchmen in 
different parts of the building, and they are 
not always as alert as they might be. Well, 
between two o'clock and the time the day force 
comes on at six o'clock in the morning, the 
meddlers get in their best work. The day 
men usually discover the trouble, though in a 
case like to-night, when one of the big ma- 
chines have been tampered with, the disturb- 
ance isn't noticed until the operator tries to 
start up at nightfall. 

‘We've watched everything and everybody, 
but when we are in one place trouble turns up 
in an entirely different part of the plant. The 
thing that worries me the most about the whole 
business is that some night after the meddlers 
have been at work the rebels out there in the 
mountains might take it in their heads to at- 


96 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

tack. Suppose the searchlight generator was 
crippled. In that case we'd have a serious 
time, wouldn't we? Indeed, I would like to 
find out whom we are dealing with. But how 
can I?" 

‘Well," said Jack after a moment's reflec- 
tion, “at least we can learn whether we are 
dealing with peons or white men. Here's a 
suggestion. Why not sprinkle a little powder 
or dust around the machines, switchboard and 
other apparatus likely to be tampered with? 
Sprinkle it at two o'clock every morning and 
sweep it up again at six. In the meantime if 
any one has tampered with these contrivances 
they are bound to leave footprints. If the 
prints show naked feet we’ll know it is one of 
the peons, and if we find the trouble maker 
wears shoes then we'll know it is a white man." 

“By Jove, that's a corking idea," said Mr. 
Ryder enthusiastically; “we'll do it. We'll 
sprinkle cement dust on the floor. Let's try 
it out to-night and keep it up religiously until 
we get an imprint of the villain's feet. We'll 
saunter over to the plant after those workmen 
clear out, which I judge will be about three 


JACK PROPOSES A TRAP 97 

o’clock; meanwhile, if you care to, you can 
snatch an hour’s sleep.” 

To Jack sleep sounded particularly good and 
as soon as Mr. Ryder pointed out his room he 
tumbled into it without even removing his 
shoes. But it seemed to him however that he 
had only closed his eyes when he felt the en- 
gineer’s hand upon his forehead. 

'Tt’s after three o’clock,” said Mr. Ryder, 
“and the workmen have all left the plant. 
What do you say to setting our trap now ?” 

Jack was on his feet in an instant, for he 
was as eager as the engineer to see how his 
plan would work out. First they visited a 
tool shed where they secured a bucket, then 
Mr. Ryder ripped open a bag of cement 
with his jack knife and by the light of an elec- 
tric pocket flash lamp supplied himself with a 
pail of the fine gray powder. 

As they passed the front of the plant they 
could see Nedham in his office working over 
some papers. They continued on around the 
corner of the building where Mr. Ryder opened 
a large door that let them in on the generator 
floor. Two of the big machines were running. 


98 JACK STRAY/ IN MEXICO 

but there was not a soul in sight. Through 
the glass front of the control room, high up 
among the girders, they could see Lyman 
watching the switchboard. 

"Ts there any wonder that the rebel sym- 
pathizers can tamper with the machines said 
Mr. Ryder; ‘‘there isn’t a watchman in sight, 
and Lyman would not be likely to see us down 
here unless he made a point of looking out of 
the window, which is not necessary, for he 
can see how the machines are running by look- 
ing at the indicators on his board. Nedham 
is in his office and the only other man on duty 
is the engineer and he is probably in his office 
watching for signals from Lyman. There 
should be a watchman here on the floor, but I 
guess when no one is looking he steals off and 
takes a nap. Tve fired at least five men for 
doing that, but you can’t teach these Mexicans 
anything. They’ll do exactly as they please 
in spite of you.” 

In fifteen minutes Jack and the engineer had 
set their trap and returned to the cottage 
again. They were both thoroughly tired and 
Mr. Ryder began to take off his things the 


JACK PROPOSES A TRAP 99 

moment he entered the house. As he un- 
loosened the front of his shirt, however, a 
rather bulky yellow wallet slipped out and fell 
to the floor. 

'There are those drawings,’’ said the 
engineer. "Pd almost forgotten them with 
all our activities to-day. Here’s your wallet, 
I guess I won’t need it any longer.” 

He removed the envelope of blue prints as 
he spoke and opening the top drawer of his 
desk dropped it inside, at the same time hand- 
ing the wallet to Jack. 

'T’ll be up at six to look for results,” said 
he as Jack started for his room, "but I really 
don’t expect to find any footprints right off. 
I rather think the trouble maker has done 
enough damage to satisfy him for several days 
at least.” 


CHAPTER X 

FOOTPRINTS 

I N Spite of the fact that he had been able 
to get but a few hours’ sleep, Jack was 
awake before six o’clock. The noise Mr. 
Ryder made in the adjoining room aroused 
him, and when he realized that the engineer 
was getting ready to start for the power plant, 
he dressed with all speed. But though they 
were up early, old Tom Why had been awake 
fully half an hour before them as a steaming 
breakfast testified. 

The two did not linger long over their 
coffee, however, for they were too eager to 
reach the station before the day men arrived 
and tracked through the cement powder. In- 
deed, they left the cottage still munching the 
last of their meal. The sun had been up two 
hours, but the mountains across the river were 
100 


FOOTPRINTS 


lOI 


so tall that its rays were only just getting down 
into the broad valley that held Necaxa. 
Jack’s first view of the place by daylight 
pleased him greatly. As Mr. Ryder had said, 
the country was wilderness, the only evidence 
of civilization being the tracks of the narrow 
gage railroad and the steel poles that carried 
the four black serpent-like transmission lines 
across the clearing and into the forest toward 
Mexico City. Necaxa was completely shut 
off from the rest of the world by mountains, 
the nearest community being a little nameless 
Indian village down the river. 

However, the lad had no time to gaze at 
the scenery just then, for in a few minutes the 
workmen would be on the way to the plant. 
Jack and Mr. Ryder hurried to the side door 
they had used but three hours before, and in 
a few moments they were looking at their re- 
cent handiwork. From one machine to an- 
other they hurried, closely inspecting the dust 
on the floor, before sweeping it into the pail 
again. Though they did not expect to find 
traces of a nocturnal visit by the mysterious 
trouble maker they were keenly alert for every 


102 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

little clue. They inspected each appliance in 
the main room but all seemed to be in good 
order, nor did the cement powder reveal a 
single telltale mark. There remained only 
the small generators of the exciter sets to be 
inspected. Jack hurried forward to brush up 
the dust about these machines, for the men 
were already entering the plant and he did not 
care to let them know of the trap. 

And as he stooped over, his eyes caught the 
distinct outline of a foot close to the base of 
the generator ! Another and still another 
were discovered close by. He could scarcely 
credit his eyes. But Mr. Ryder, who was di- 
rectly behind him, saw the imprints also. 

^‘By George, weVe a clue at last!’’ he ex- 
claimed, leaning forward and examining the 
tracks. ‘They have been made by naked feet 
too ! What do you think of that !” 

“And I’ll be hanged if that isn’t the mark 
of a scar on the left heel!” he ejaculated, as 
he dropped to his hands and knees and scru- 
tinized the tracks. “Oh, our task is an easy one 
now! I’ll guarantee to have the meddler in 
the hands of the rurales by sundown with this 


FOOTPRINTS 


103 

evidence to work on. But look how they have 
riddled the exciter!’’ 

As Jack bent closer he too could see the 
mark of a scar. The foot had removed the 
concrete dust completely except for a little 
ridge diagonally across the heel. This showed 
plainly that there had been a sharp indentation 
in the flesh at that point. And as the same 
mark showed in every other imprint of the 
left foot there was small room for doubt. 

‘Well, it looks as if our trap had worked 
far better than we expected,” he said jubi- 
lantly, as they prepared to obliterate the track 
by sweeping up the dust. 

“Indeed it did,” replied Mr. Ryder. 
“Here’s positive proof that the culprit is a 
peon, and with this telltale scar to help out 
it is only necessary to inspect every peon in 
the plant and pick out the guilty individual. 
We’ll have them lined up immediately.” 

Together they hurried out of the station and 
across to the quarters of the army officers. 
The captain in command of the post was on 
the front porch of his cottage washing his face 
in a tin basin when Mr. Ryder interrupted him. 


104 jack straw in MEXICO 

The engineer spoke a few words in Spanish 
and the officer hastily reached for a towel, at 
the same time calling loudly for an orderly. 
That individual arrived from behind the cot- 
tage as if produced by magic, and after lis- 
tening to the captain’s brief orders saluted 
and hurried to the barracks building, from 
the door of which the soldiers were just emerg- 
ing in various stages of attire. 

He returned presently, to be followed five 
minutes later by a young officer in charge of 
a squad of ten soldiers. Curt instructions 
were issued by the commander and the soldiers 
broke ranks immediately and went hurrying 
here and there about the plant, rounding up 
every peon in sight. 

Some of the native laborers protested vio- 
lently against being hustled into line along the 
south wall of the station, for they were afraid 
that they were about to be shot, this being the 
spot where all the executions in Necaxa were 
staged. But their protests were of no avail, 
for the soldiers took keen delight in hurrying 
them along with the sharp point of their 
bayonets or the flat stock of their guns. 


FOOTPRINTS 


los 

In less than no time two score natives were 
facing the gray stone wall. They were a 
heterogeneous assortment of half-breeds and 
full-blooded Indians with ragged garments 
and hair long and unkempt. None wore shoes 
or even sandals. 

When every native had been located and the 
line was complete the soldiers withdrew a short 
distance and the captain then turning to Mr. 
Ryder, spoke nervously and with great con- 
cern: 

‘‘Here are they, Sehor, maybe now you find 
them sick mans, yes.’’ 

“Why did he say ‘those sick men,’ ” asked 
Jack, somewhat puzzled. 

“I told him there was a rumor abroad that 
one of the peons had leprosy and that we 
wanted to find him and put him in a pest house. 
Though I know very little about the disease 
I understand it shows first on the face, palms 
of the hands or soles of the feet,” answered 
the engineer. 

“But why did you tell him that ?” demanded 
the lad. 

“Well, for the simple reason that I do not 


io6 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

care to let any one know what we have dis- 
covered. I think the less said about the scar 
the easier it will be for us to catch our man. 
If we keep it to ourselves he will never suspect 
that we set a trap for him. Now for the 
search.’’ 

Mr. Ryder, Jack and the captain began a 
tour of inspection. Each Indian was com- 
manded to lift first one foot and then the 
other, while Jack and the engineer scru- 
tinized them closely. The engineer in addi- 
tion examined their hands and face as well, 
though not with as keen an eye as he watched 
the feet. The peons all submitted to the in- 
spection meekly, but it was quite evident from 
the expression on their faces that they could 
not understand the whole proceedings. One 
by one they were passed and as Mr. Ryder 
neared the end of the line his brow wrinkled 
in a perplexed frown. Finally when the last 
man was allowed to go he turned to the officer 
in charge of the squad and demanded: 

"'Are these all the peons there are about the 
plant? There must be more!” 

"No more are here, Sefior. But maybe 


FOOTPRINTS 


107 


those sick mans you look on is here in the night 
men. There are — ah — diez hombres/' said 
the officer excitedly. 

‘‘Jack,” said the engineer, “that fellow may 
be right. It is possible that my man is on 
the night force or he may be a strange peon 
who gets into the plant somehow. I think the 
next move for us to make is to go down to the 
Indian village and do some detective work 
there. Most of the peons we hire live down 
there and it is more than likely that we will find 
the man with the scarred heel among them.” 

“ That sounds reasonable,” said Jack, after 
considering the question. “Why not go down 
there while the trail is hot?” 

“All right,” said Mr. Ryder, “but let me 
warn you that we will have to travel through 
about five miles of country infested with 
rebels and, as you know, they do not look upon 
any of the white men from the plant with very 
great favor.” 

“I am willing to take the chance,” said Jack, 
laconically. 

“Very good, only be sure your gun is in 
working order and your cartridge belt is full.” 


CHAPTER XI 


SEARCHING FOR THE MAN WITH A SCARRED 
HEEL 

A DROVE of thirty or more horses and 
half as many pack mules were quar- 
tered in the large corral behind the barracks 
for the use of the rurales stationed at Necaxa. 
From among them a rather docile mustang 
was selected for Jack. While a native was 
saddling the horse, a mozo, or Indian servant, 
arrived with the engineer’s steed, a beautiful 
creature that had cost Mr. Ryder nearly three 
hundred Mexican dollars, which is a very high 
price indeed to pay for horse flesh in that coun- 
try. Three of the rurales were detailed to ac- 
company them as a special guard and before 
leaving the enclosure the entire party made a 
careful inspection of their firearms. 

For the first two miles the trail skirted the 
high bank of the river and was wide enough 
io8 


SEARCHING FOR ^^SCAR FOOT’’ 109 

to permit the men to ride two abreast. The 
three soldier-policemen took the lead while 
Jack and the engineer brought up the rear, 
and as their horses jogged along Mr. Ryder 
explained briefly the life of the Mexican In- 
dians since the conquest of the country by ad- 
venturers from across the sea. 

'These natives,” he said, "have been veri- 
table slaves since their ancestors yielded to 
Spain’s warriors. The peons, who are all In- 
dians or half-breeds, are the lowest type of 
Mexicans. They are uneducated and un- 
civilized and for that reason they rarely ad- 
vance above the class of servants and laborers. 
Since the day they were conquered they have 
been without opportunity, however, so we can- 
not blame them altogether for their condition. 
There is every reason to believe, from the 
relics that are left to-day, that the Mexican 
Indians were semi-civilized at least. They 
erected magnificent temples, they laid out large 
cities, and they even built aqueducts and sewer 
systems. Indeed, they were much farther ad- 
vanced than the North American Indian of 
the plains, but with the advent of the Spaniards 


no 


JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

they began to deteriorate for the simple rea- 
son that they were not allowed to progress. 
As you already know, a man or a nation can- 
not stand still. It must either develop or re- 
trogress. The Spaniards made slaves of the 
Indians and while they are not slaves in name 
to-day they might just as well be, for they have 
not as much freedom as the negro had in the 
United States before the Civil War. 

^The peons live as tenants on haciendas, 
or large farms, where they till the soil and 
raise crops. For this work they are paid a 
few centavos a day which in American money 
does not amount to five cents ; with this 
pittance they are supposed to buy food and 
clothes. But the hacienda owners sell them 
food and clothes at a figure far above their 
daily earnings and as a result the Indian is 
always in debt to his master. And since it is 
a capital offense in Mexico for an employee to 
leave an employer while still in debt to him, 
the peon is bound to the hacienda on which he 
is born for the rest of his life. He can never 
leave and he can never cease working for the 
same man. Whole communities of natives 


SEARCHING FOR ‘‘SCAR FOOT’’ in 


are often controlled in this way by Mexican 
farmers.” 

“It seems ridiculous that such conditions can 
exist to-day,” said Jack, very much surprised 
at this revelation. He had always considered 
the Mexican Indian as a shiftless being who 
did not work and lived from hand to mouth 
simply because of his own laziness. 

“Do not get the idea that these natives are 
blind to their present condition or that they 
do not care to elevate their general plane of 
existence,” continued Mr. Ryder. “They are 
just as eager for a chance to advance as is the 
Jew or other foreigner who immigrates to 
America. That is the reason why the pres- 
ent revolution is being waged in the north by 
Carranza and Villa, and that is why our blood- 
thirsty friend Zapata has so many peon fol- 
lowers. 

“The only trouble is the moment one of 
these revolutions is successful and the new 
leader is in power all pledges to the peon are 
forgotten and the native goes back to exactly 
the same condition that he has been fighting 
to clear himself from. It is a very unhappy 


1 12 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

situation, but some day, perhaps, a leader will 
keep his promise to his people. Then the huge 
haciendaSy which often embrace hundreds of 
thousands of acres, will be confiscated and 
this land with the millions of acres of govern- 
ment land will be cut up into small farms and 
sold to the natives at reasonable terms ex- 
actly as our country opened up the great West. 
When this happens Mexico will develop into 
a wonderful nation. Give these people pub- 
lic schools and the other advantages of civiliza- 
tion and you will soon see what kind of stuff 
they are made of. The old Indian blood is 
strong in them and Indians, properly trained, 
often make excellent men.’’ 

Mr. Ryder’s talk had changed Jack’s opin- 
ion of the peons a great deal. Indeed, he soon 
found that instead of despising them he was 
sympathizing with them. He could not un- 
derstand, however, how the engineer could 
feel kindly disposed to the natives when they 
were causing him so much trouble. He was 
on the point of mentioning this thought when 
Mr. Ryder spoke again. 

‘T feel very sorry for the peons even though 


SEARCHING FOR ‘^SCAR FOOT’ 113 

I am an agent of Huerta. But as I have 
weighed it out, my duty to my employer comes 
first no matter whether the employer is a scoun- 
drel or not. It is not for me to judge. I am 
asked to keep Mexico City illuminated and I 
will keep the lights burning no matter who is 
in the National Palace, and, moreover. I’ll do 
it in spite of this man with the scarred foot, 
whoever he is.” 

Thus recalled to their mission. Jack in- 
stantly became attentive to their surround- 
ings. He found that the trail had narrowed 
and that the rurales ahead had formed in single 
file. His little mustang was patiently picking 
its way through rough places and underbrush 
to keep beside the animal ridden by the 
engineer. 

‘T guess we have been talking too much and 
paying too little attention to our horses. Jack,” 
said Mr. Ryder. 'Tush ahead and get in sin- 
gle file. This is a section of the trail that 
carries us over the shoulder of a mountain and 
it is rather narrow.” 

Soon the shoulder was topped, however, and 
the horses began to descend in single file to- 


1 14 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

ward the Indian village. The community was 
somewhat larger than the villages Jack had 
seen from the train window on his way to 
Mexico City, otherwise it was the same collec- 
tion of dilapidated huts that looked as if they 
had been literally thrown together by their 
builders. 

As they drove down through the single 
street a regiment of barking dogs and scream- 
ing naked Indian children greeted them. 
Robust, dark-skinned men lounged about be- 
fore the huts (most of them clad in pajama- 
like cotton garments), while their women folk 
worked hard at grinding corn between stones 
or carried water from the river in tall earthen 
jugs which they balanced deftly on their 
heads. Down at the river bank Jack could 
see other women busy washing clothes. This 
laundry work was accomplished by pounding 
the garments between stones much to the detri- 
ment of the garments, for the hard stones 
rubbed innumerable holes in the cloth as Jack 
found later when he gave his linen to a native 
washerwoman. 

In the village Mr. Ryder took the lead and 


SEARCHING FOR ^‘SCAR FOOT’ 115 

Jack followed, leaving the rurales to their own 
diversions. The engineer drove toward a 
more pretentious hut than the rest, where a 
very much wrinkled old Indian sat sunning 
himself before the door and idly watching a 
half dozen scrawny razorback pigs rooting in 
the dirt almost at his very feet. 

The two Americans reined up before the 
house and viewed the picture that the old fel- 
low made as he sat there staring absently at 
the animals. 

‘That,'' said Mr. Ryder, “is Senor Yuai and 
his pigs. Pigs and vultures, as you know, are 
the scavengers of Mexico. But for their able 
services the country would be unfit to live in 
because of its filth and carrion. And Senor 
Yuai, though he is neither pig nor vulture, is 
also a very useful inhabitant. He is the In- 
dian doctor who attends to all the natives in 
this vicinity. The old fellow is very much 
looked up to and every one comes to him for 
advice. He is aged and very nearsighted but 
his mind is as keen as ever. He knows every 
peon for miles around and I've an idea that 
he can identify our trouble maker with the 


ii6 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

scarred foot if he wants to. Come, we’ll hear 
what he has to say on the question.” 

The Americans dismounted and after kick- 
ing their way through the drove of grunting 
pigs confronted the austere old Indian. Sehor 
Yuai peered up at them with eyes bleared by 
age and demanded in Spanish to know whose 
shadow fell across his doorway. (The fol- 
lowing conversation then took place which 
Mr. Ryder translated for Jack’s benefit.) 

'Tt is I, Sehor Ryder, from the electrical 
plant,” said the engineer. 

^‘Gringo friend come over mountain to see 
me?” asked the old Indian. 

‘‘Yes, I’ve come to see you, Sehor Yuai, but 
not because I am sick of calentura. It is an- 
other reason. Tell me, in all your years do 
you remember a peon ailing of a cut heel. 
Did you ever cure a very deep wound that 
would leave a scar across a peon’s heel, thus ?” 
Mr. Ryder illustrated his question by drawing 
his finger diagonally across the old man’s heel. 
The Indian was silent a long time and while 
his memory went slowly back over the many 
years he had been doctoring the natives, Mr. 


SEARCHING FOR ‘‘SCAR FOOT’ 117 

Ryder slipped a cigarette between his lean old 
fingers, saying, ‘‘Here, Senor Yuai, perhaps a 
little smoke will make you remember better/’ 

The Indian accepted the roll of brown paper 
and tobacco with a grunt of satisfaction and 
lit it on the glowing end of Mr. Ryder’s own 
cigarette which the engineer held for his con- 
venience. 

For five minutes the old native puffed in 
silence, exhaling great clouds of blue smoke 
from tirrie to time. Finally he spoke. 

“As many years ago as I have fingers came 
a young man to see me. He had stepped on 
a machette and the flesh of his foot was laid 
open to the bone. My medicine cured him. 
Soon he could walk, he could run, he could 
swim. He was a fine big fellow. He could 
shoot well, he could ride well and he was a 
good boy except he liked pulque too much. 
One day he went away. Two summers later 
he came back in clothes as green as the banana 
palm. He was then a rurale. He went away 
again and never came again,. His name — 
ah — his name went with him.” Here the In- 
dian touched his forehead with his finger as 


ii8 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

he spoke and this action told the American 
plainer than his words that he had forgotten 
the young man’s name. 

Jack and the engineer looked at each other 
significantly when Senor Yuai finished speak- 
ing. 

''Can it be that we have traitors among our 
rurales!” demanded Mr. Ryder incredulously. 


CHAPTER XII 


THE DRAWINGS ARE STOLEN 

‘‘TT TELL, this is a mighty serious state of 
V V affairs,” said the engineer as they re- 
turned to their horses and prepared to re- 
mount. 

‘‘Yes, indeed, and from all appearances we 
have a real enemy to contend with,” replied 
the lad. 

‘‘You are right, we have,” confirmed Mr. 
Ryder. “If our man with the scarred foot is 
a member of the rurales, we are going to have 
the devil's own job locating him too. We can- 
not accuse at random and moreover we can- 
not take our troubles to the captain, for the 
reason that where there is one traitor there 
are likely to be many more. The captain may 
be a revolutionist himself, and if he is, heaven 
help us when he finds out that we have a way 
of identifying the trouble maker. We would 


120 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

be murdered in less than a week. I think we 
had better feel our way very slowly before we 
make an arrest.” 

‘'But why should a rurale go traveling 
about in his bared feet at night?” queried 
Jack, suddenly discovering a puzzling ques- 
tion. 

‘T thought of that myself,” confessed the 
engineer, “and the only reason I can give is 
that the culprit is always afraid that the jingle 
of his big spurs will attract attention and 
rather than remove them he removed his boots 
instead and goes about his work silently. 
That sounds perfectly plausible, doesn’t it?” 

“By George, that’s capital reasoning ! I be- 
lieve you’ve hit it exactly right,” exclaimed the 
lad enthusiastically. 

“I see our three guards over on the river 
bank,” said Mr. Ryder, abruptly changing the 
subject; “we’ll drive over and join them there, 
for I’ve an idea that our horses could stand 
a drink before starting for the plant again. 

“And by the way,” he warned as they urged 
their mounts forward, “I wouldn’t say much 
about our friend of the scarred foot in the 


THE DRAWINGS ARE STOLEN 121 


presence of the rurales either here or at the 
plant, for you never can tell just how much 
English some of these fellows understand. 
Fm a little worried over the impression that 
our search among the peons created, even 
though I did tell the captain the falsehood 
about the suspected leper. Who knows, per- 
haps the very man we are after was looking on 
all the time. In that case our lives are in 
danger every moment. He would kill us rather 
than run the chance of being identified.’’ 

It was quite evident to Jack that the engineer 
regarded the business at hand as rather 
hazardous and the lad from Vermont could 
not help feeling slightly concerned about his 
own safety. He put on a bold front before 
Mr. Ryder, however, for he did not care to 
have the engineer think that he was the least 
bit worried. 

The river’s course through the valley was 
broad and the stream ran sluggish and shallow 
where it passed the village. Indeed, just be- 
low the point where the women were wash- 
ing on the rocks was a ford, with a sloping 
sandy beach on either bank. Here it was that 


122 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

the pack trains leaving the valley toward the 
north crossed the stream. On the bank op- 
posite, Jack saw several large alligators sun- 
ning themselves, and here and there on the sur- 
face of the water he also saw the scaly backs 
and heads of others that had come up to rest 
awhile and get a fresh supply of air. Some of 
them were fully ten feet long. 

But in spite of the presence of these reptiles, 
the horses did not hesitate to wade belly deep 
into the stream and cool themselves while they 
slaked their thirst. Jack noticed this and re- 
marked about it to Mr. Ryder. 

"‘Alligators are not disposed to attack any- 
thing very large,’’ said the engineer, “although 
sometimes they do make away with sheep and 
small calves that come down for a drink. 
The ’gator is not as ferocious as his cousin the 
crocodile and I have never heard of any na- 
tives being devoured by one, in spite of the 
fact that the Indians wade the ford here 
daily.” 

Mr. Ryder had hardly finished speaking 
when a young Indian appeared on the opposite 
bank followed by a full-grown hound dog. 


THE DRAWINGS ARE STOLEN 123 

The native was clad only in abbreviated can- 
vas trousers and slung across his back was a 
tiny mail bag. Jack learned later that his 
first name was Miguel and that his last name 
was almost unpronounceable, also that he was 
the official runner, or messenger, of that sec- 
tion of the country, and that his forefathers 
had been runners as far back as the days of 
Montezuma. 

The native stood knee deep in the river a 
moment and emitted several loud whoops at 
the same time churning the water furiously 
with his feet. At this the alligators on the 
bank slipped into the water with a splash and 
every scaly back and head disappeared. Then 
the Indian plunged into the stream and waded 
across, at the same time coaxing the dog to 
follow. The hound stood whining at the 
water’s edge, however, and the messenger 
reached the opposite shore before the animal 
found sufficient courage to follow. Finally, 
after much coaxing, he took the plunge and 
swam toward his master. But he had scarcely 
passed the middle of the stream when he be- 
gan to whine again, half raising himself out 


124 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

of the water with his frantic efforts to swim 
faster. The next instant there was a swirl 
just behind him and an ugly head appeared on 
the surface. The dog fairly leapt out of the 
water at this but he could not avoid the reptile 
whose dripping jaws closed upon one hind 
leg. 

The native shouted wildly and plunged back 
into the river again to rescue his pet. But be- 
fore he had gone two steps, Jack, with great 
presence of mind, whipped out his revolver. 
Twice he fired and each bullet found its way 
into the scaly body. Instantly the water was 
lashed into foam by the death struggle of the 
monster. The great jaws opened wide and 
the reptile awoke the echoes in the hills with 
a bellow like that of an angry bull. Then it 
sank out of sight. 

Half drowned and with one leg dangling 
limp and useless the hound dragged itself from 
the river. The young Indian lifted it in his 
arms and caressed it gently, at the same time 
talking effusively to Jack. Of course the 
American could not understand the messenger, 
but it was quite evident from the expression 


THE DRAWINGS ARE STOLEN 125 

on the red man’s face that he was very grate- 
ful to Jack and that he admired his quick and 
accurate shooting. 

‘'What is he saying?” asked the Vermonter, 
turning to Mr. Ryder. 

“He says that you are a very good marks- 
man and that you have a warm heart for a 
gringo. He promises never to forget your 
kindness.” 

Jack smiled his acknowledgment and pre- 
pared to remount his horse, which with the 
others had withdrawn from the river when the 
struggling alligator began its frenzied lashing 
of the water. 

It was past midday when the five riders 
started on their return journey toward the 
power plant, and the heat was intense. How- 
ever, as soon as the horses had climbed out of 
the valley the trail led through a dense forest 
where huge trees and thickly matted vines shut 
out all sunlight and all heat as well. Travel, 
under such circumstances was thoroughly en- 
joyable, and the five riders swung along in 
single file until they reached the open country 
in the vicinity of the great hydro station again. 


126 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

'Well/’ said Jack as he reined in beside 
Mr. Ryder at the gate in the barbed-wire bar- 
ricade, 'T thought you said the woods were 
full of rebels. We haven’t seen a sign of one 
all day long. What do you make of it?” 

"It is more than likely that they are off in 
some other section of the hills, burning and 
pillaging. But don’t think that they haven’t 
an eye on us, for they have and you’ll see signs 
of them again before long, I’ll warrant.” 

The soldier on guard at the gate had un- 
fastened the intricate lock by this time and the 
cavalcade entered. The rurales hurried off at 
top speed to their long low barracks hall where 
they hoped to find the remains of the noonday 
mess. And as for Jack and the engineer, 
they were not slow in reaching the cottage, for 
they knew that faithful old Tom Why had 
something tempting waiting for them. 

A mozo met them as they reined in before 
the door and when they had dismounted he 
took charge of the horses. The few hours in 
the saddle had been rather tiresome to the lad, 
for he was not accustomed to that form of 
exercise. Indeed, the shaking up he had re- 


THE DRAWINGS ARE STOLEN 127 

ceived on horseback and the lack of sleep the 
night before had made him so thoroughly fa- 
tigued that even the cartridge belt and holster 
weighed heavily on his hips and as he walked 
toward the cottage he started to unbuckle the 
leather girdle. Just as he was mounting the 
steps the buckle opened suddenly and the belt 
swung free, upsetting the holster and toppling 
the revolver to the ground. 

Hastily Jack stooped to pick it up. But as 
he reached down he caught sight of a naked 
footprint in the dust! He bent closer, hardly 
able to believe what he saw! The footprint 
bore the mark of a deep scar diagonally across 
the heel! 

‘'Hi! Mr. Ryder! Look! Our man with 
the scar paid a visit here as well he shouted 
to the engineer, who had already entered the 
cottage. 

Mr. Ryder hurried out and examined the 
footprint with Jack. 

“By George, you’re right! What could he 
have wanted up here !” exclaimed the engineer. 

Jack did not wait to answer the question. 
He bolted into the house and rushed to the 


128 JACK STRAW IX MEXICO 

flat-topped desk, for he had suddenly thought 
of the precious blueprints. Eag-erly he drew 
open the top drawer into whidi he had seen 
Mr. Ryder drop the yellow envelope the even- 
ing before- But the compartment was empty I 
The drawings were gone! 


CHAPTER XIII 


A WEAKENED GARRISON 

W ITH the disappearance of the engineer’s 
drawings the mystery that surrounded 
the man with the scarred foot was doubled. 
Neither Jack nor Mr. Ryder could be quite 
positive of the clue they had been following. 
To them the fact that the trouble maker went 
about without shoes argued that he was a 
peon, and they could well understand why a 
peon, imbued with the spirit of revolution, 
should seek to make conditions as imcomfort- 
able as possible for President Huerta, against 
whose rule they were revolting. That the 
person in question should undertake to wreck 
the power plant, or portions of it, seemed quite 
natural. But when it came to stealing draw- 
ings that were absolutely useless to them the 
whole affair took on a different complexion. 
WTio was this individual with the scar on 
129 


130 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

his foot? Was he a peon or was he some one 
of the other employees about the plant? Or 
again, was he a soldier, or a member of the 
band of rurales, or was he some one of the 
bandits in the mountains who ran the guard 
at night and accomplished his trickery under 
the very eyes of soldiers and employees ? The 
whole situation was thoroughly muddled and 
Jack and Mr. Ryder spent days trying to fa- 
thom the knotty problem. To a technical man 
the drawings were of the utmost value, for 
they laid bare to him the secret of an invention 
that would make him wealthy. But on the 
other hand it would seem that the man was 
moved more by his sympathies with the revolu- 
tionists than by his desire for personal gain, 
since it was quite apparent that the person 
who was so industriously engaged in making 
things disagreeable for President Huerta and 
the man who stole the drawings was the same 
individual. 

'Tt is a mighty peculiar situation,” said Mr. 
Ryder one evening, after he and Jack had been 
puzzling over the matter for several hours. 
‘This is my only conclusion. The man must 


A WEAKENED GARRISON 131 

be a peon, or a soldier, for they are the only 
persons hereabout who are interested in the 
revolution at all. He has heard of the draw- 
ings somehow, and believing that they would 
be of value to Zapata or Carranza (or whoever 
else he favors), he stole them. Later on he 
will probably turn them over to some one of 
these leaders with the hope, perhaps, that he 
will be given a commission or some other form 
of recognition for his service to the cause. 

'‘But after I have reached that conclusion,” 
he added, "I am not absolutely certain that I 
am shooting in the right direction.” 

For some time after the disappearance of 
the papers everything ran smoothly at the 
plant. But in the meantime disconcerting ru- 
mors were coming in from the mountains 
about bands of Zapatistas who were gather- 
ing at all points. The rurales who went out 
to patrol the hills and in particular to ride the 
transmission line to see that it was not dis- 
turbed were the first to bring in reports of 
skirmishes with these rebels. Almost daily 
several of the soldier-policemen would locate 
a handful of armed natives somewhere in the 


132 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

hills. Always a fight followed which resulted 
in at least one or two fatalities. More than 
once these green-clad riders came into Necaxa 
with dead or wounded comrades in their arms. 
And on several occasions they appeared at the 
power plant with prisoners bound hand and 
foot and tied to the backs of horses or burros 
like so many sacks of flour. 

Short work was made of these men. Their 
fate was sealed the moment they were cap- 
tured by the rurales. As a matter of form 
they were given a drumhead trial; that is, 
they were taken before the chief officer of the 
rurales and asked a number of unimportant 
questions. No matter how these questions 
were answered the sentence was the same. 
The natives were always condemned to be shot 
at sunrise the following morning. 

Jack was present at the trial of one of these 
unfortunates and after the rebel was taken to 
the guardhouse the lad and Mr. Ryder went 
to visit him. It gave Jack a rather uncanny 
feeling when he realized that the man with 
whom they were talking would be dead and 
cold in ten hours. The Vermonter was up be- 


A WEAKENED GARRISON 133 

fore sunrise to see the prisoner led out and 
placed against the gray wall of the power 
plant. The firing squad was composed of five 
men and an officer who stood with sword 
drawn while a soldier bound a handkerchief 
about the eyes of the victim. When this was 
done the executioners took careful aim and 
waited for the abrupt command to fire. 

The five guns roared simultaneously, and 
Jack grew sick as he saw the blindfolded figure 
sway backward first, then recover its balance 
only to pitch forward with a groan and become 
an inert and lifeless mass. When the smoke 
had cleared away the officer walked calmly up 
to the dead man and drawing his revolver 
emptied the entire six chambers into the al- 
ready lifeless body. This, Jack learned, was 
prescribed by the military regulations of 
Mexico, which state that an officer in charge 
of a firing squad, is held responsible for the 
certain death of the victim. 

The rurales, however, were not the only 
ones to bring in word of the gathering of the 
Zapatistas. One day three men left the plant 
on a handcar trip of inspection along the nar- 


134 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

row gage railroad track. One took a Win- 
chester rifle with him while the others car- 
ried their revolvers. On their return journey 
they were met at a bend in the road by six 
rebels. One had a rifle but the others were 
armed only with machettes, or long brush knives. 
The men from the plant were ordered to stop, 
of course, but they did not obey. Instead they 
started to pump the handles harder and since 
the tracks were down grade at that point 
their car had gained tremendous headway 
by the time they reached the natives. For- 
tunately the peons had not had forethought 
enough to plug the railroad tracks or loosen a 
rail in which case the car would have been 
wrecked and the inspectors killed immediately. 
As it was they ran past the natives at top 
speed. The Mexican with the rifle opened 
fire and the man with the Winchester replied, 
but he was only able to get in one shot before 
the handle of the car knocked the rifle from 
his grasp. One of the other men drew his six 
shooter and emptied it as he went flying past. 
It was a narrow escape and the three inspec- 


A WEAKENED GARRISON 135 

tors were glad when they reached the power 
plant. 

Shortly after this experience some excite- 
ment was created at the station when Lyman 
noticed that one of his indicators recorded a 
grounded transmission line. Two linemen 
and a squad of rurales were despatched to lo- 
cate the trouble. Five miles back in the moun- 
tains they found a dead peon clinging to one 
of the steel transmission poles and the story 
of the ground was revealed instantly. This 
peon had climbed the pole and with his steel 
machette tried to cut through one of the trans- 
mission lines. The moment the blade came in 
contact with the cable a circuit was formed and 
the entire 88,000 volts were sent through the 
man’s body. His companions, seeing his fate, 
had fled without even attempting to rescue 
him. 

These demonstrations on the part of the 
rebels did not add to the peace of mind of the 
men at the power plant. Indeed every one 
began to feel the strain, for the station was 
veritably in a state of siege. Rumors came 


136 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

into Necaxa by way of the peons from the 
Indian village down the valley, that Jose 
Cerro, one of the fiercest of the mountain 
bandits and a strong ally of Zapata, was in 
charge of the horde that was gathering in the 
hills in that vicinity. After that no one felt 
inclined to leave the station except when ac- 
companied by a guard of rurales and all in- 
spection of railroad and transmission lines 
was done with the aid of soldiers. 

Then one day in the midst of it all the officer 
in charge of the infantry reported to Mr. 
Ryder that he had been in communication with 
General Rodriguez and had received orders 
to move his entire detachment back to Mexico 
City. The engineer could not believe his ears. 
With all haste he called up the capital on the 
long-distance telephone. 

''Why, you won’t need soldiers out there any 
longer,” said the military officer after the 
engineer had protested vigorously to the re- 
moval of the guard. "You don’t need sol- 
diers because Zapata is moving his whole army 
toward the Atlantic coast. He’s evidently 
heard of the shipment of arms coming in on 


A WEAKENED GARRISON 137 

the German steamer and hopes to intercept 
them on their way to the capital. If he takes 
the railroad we are lost. That's why we want 
your soldiers. We must have them. The 
rebel chief has withdrawn all his men from 
your section of the country so Tm sure you 
won't need them." 

‘'Oh, is that so," said Mr. Ryder, thoroughly 
angry. “Well, there are a few hundred lurk- 
ing out here in the woods just now and I am 
expecting an attack almost any time." 

“You are mistaken, I am sure," said the 
officer; “there may be a few bandits about in 
the mountains but the Zapatistas have all fol- 
lowed their leader. I am very sorry, but we 
need all the soldiers you have at Necaxa. 
However, if you are at all alarmed I will leave 
you a detachment of twenty-five infantrymen 
who, with the squad of rurales you have sta- 
tioned there, will be able to defend the place 
against a few bandits. Good-by." 

The soldiers entrained that very afternoon, 
much to the chagrin of Mr. Ryder and the 
other Americans. 

“By George, this is the queerest piece of 


138 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

work I have ever seen/’ said Mr. Ryder. 
‘Tf Zapata has moved his men, Jose Cerro 
did not follow his leader, for he’s out there in 
the mountains with two hundred men and he’ll 
swoop down on us in short order when he 
hears how weak our garrison is. Just watch 
how bold those greasers get when they learn 
that the infantry has been called back to Mex-- 
ico City.” 


CHAPTER Xiy 


THE NIGHT WATCH 

M r. RYDER’S prediction came true. It 
was not two days later when a half 
dozen peons appeared on the edge of the for- 
est and occupied their time shooting out the 
windows in the workmen’s cottages and send- 
ing leaden greetings to any one who appeared 
out of doors. They remained in their posi- 
tions until the soldiers mounted a light ma- 
chine gun in the window of the barracks house 
and poured a rain of steel- jacketed bullets in 
their direction. But Jose Cerro’s followers 
were not the only ones who were made bold 
by the withdrawal of the troops. The traitor 
inside the power plant became active too. 

One evening while Jack and Mr. Ryder were 
partaking of one of Tom Why’s elaborate 
meals, Phil Underwood, the young American 
whose duty it was to take care of the huge 
139 


140 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

searchlight, rushed into the dining room. 

‘‘Mr. Ryder,’' he exclaimed with a savage 
note in his voice, “there’s a peon in Necaxa I’d 
like to lay hands on. He’s that blasted sym- 
pathizer. If I knew who he was I’d choke 
him to death. What do you think he’s done 
now to help that bunch of cutthroats out there 
in the mountain? He’s put the big search- 
light out of business! He’s wrecked the en- 
tire outfit and there isn’t a place this side of 
New York where we can get the broken parts 
replaced! It looks as if we were up against 
it for sure.” 

The engineer looked thoroughly worried. 

“When did it happen?” he demanded. 

“The light was all right up to dawn this 
morning. I shut it off promptly at four 
o’clock, put the canvas jacket over it and went 
to bed. When I tried to start it a few mo- 
ments ago I found the whole mechanism gone 
to smash.” 

For a long time Mr. Ryder was silent. His 
brow was wrinkled and it was evident to both 
Phil and Jack that the situation was causing 
him some deep thought. Finally he spoke. 


THE NIGHT WATCH 141 

"'Look here, Phil, this condition is mighty 
serious and I am at a loss to know exactly how 
to proceed. I think the best plan is not to 
mention this last piece of treachery. Merely 
go to Lieutenant Hernandez and tell him that 
the searchlight suddenly became out of order 
and until we can repair it or make better ar- 
rangements he must keep a double guard along 
the barricade and the first trench. If we 
spread the news about this broadcast we can't 
tell what sort of an effect it will have on the 
soldiers. Mexicans are a peculiar lot, you 
know, and for that reason alone I think it 
would be far better for us to keep this inci- 
dent secret. In the meantime you and Jack 
and myself can keep a watchful eye on every- 
thing in general and I'll try to work out a plan 
for an improvised searchlight." 

"Very good, sir," said Phil, as he hurried 
off to the military barracks. 

When the youth had gone Mr. Ryder turned 
to Jack and said: "I trust you are still will- 
ing to help me in this difficulty, my boy." 

"You're right I am," exclaimed Jack en- 
thusiastically, "I am as much interested as if 


142 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

I were employed here and Til do anything I 
can to be of assistance/^ 

‘'Very well then, Jack, Til look to you to do 
a man's share of the watching around here 
until we can get things straightened out. 
This trouble with the searchlight may mean 
that a night attack is impending. I purpose 
doing some guard duty myself to-night and I 
should like to have you help me out. Will 
you ?" 

"Only tell me what you want of me and I'll 
do it without a word of protest," said Jack 
loyally. 

"Well, suppose you buckle on your revolver 
now and start patroling the village. Keep an 
eye out for anything that does not look abso- 
lutely normal. At midnight report back to the 
cottage here and wake me up. I'll do my trick 
between midnight and dawn, for I do not in- 
tend that this traitor shall get in any more of 
his underhanded work without being caught 
at it." 

"That's a capital scheme," said the young 
Vermonter and finishing his coffee he hurried 
to his room. There he secured his belt and 


THE NIGHT WATCH 


143 

holster which he had tossed on his bed an hour 
previous. Also before he left he rummaged 
through his traveling bag until he had located 
a tiny electric pocket flash lamp which he had 
brought with him all the way from Druery- 
ville. Ten minutes later he was sauntering 
down the single narrow street toward the 
power plant. 

Darkness was just coming on as the sentries 
were changed and the lad watched the small 
squad of regulars leave the barracks and take 
their places at various points around the tiny 
village. 

'T wonder/’ mused the boy, ''how many ac- 
tually keep awake all night? I’ll warrant half 
of them find some sheltered spot and go to 
sleep after midnight.” 

For an hour or two the little community re- 
sembled the quarry towns of far off Vermont 
to such a degree that Jack actually became a 
little homesick as he viewed the scene. Every 
cottage window glowed with cheerful light and 
the day men, free from their tasks for a while, 
were indulging in the only sociability Necaxa 
afforded: that was to gather in twos and 


144 jack straw in MEXICO 

threes on cottage porches and spend the even- 
ing in telling stories and smoking. Now and 
then some one of these groups would burst 
forth in songs and what the tunes lacked in 
harmony was made up for in the enthusiasm of 
the singers. Most of the songs Jack recog- 
nized as having been popular back in the States 
two years before. 

At half past nine the groups began to 
dwindle, the men going off to their various 
cottages. One by one the lights went out and 
by ten o’clock the place was in total darkness, 
save for the lights in the power plant. Jack 
felt very lonesome then. Except for the 
steady grumble of the generators inside the 
big gray building, not a sound disturbed the 
stillness. From place to place about the vil- 
lage the youth roamed, peering here and there 
for signs of trouble. But mostly he watched 
in the vicinity of the power plant. 

This constant vigil was very tiresome, how- 
ever, and several times he paused in a secluded 
angle of the building and flashed his electric 
lamp on the face of his watch. He was thor- 


THE NIGHT WATCH 


145 

oughly glad when the hands pointed out the 
hour of midnight. 

He made one more tour of inspection after 
that, then started up the street toward Mr. 
Ryder’s cottage. He had almost reached his 
destination when suddenly his attention was 
attracted by a gray shadow moving between 
two cottages some distance to his left. Jack 
remembered that both buildings were occu- 
pied by Mexican linemen and his suspicions 
were aroused immediately. As softly as a 
panther he moved across the roadway and 
gained the corner of one of the buildings. 
The shadow still lingered in the alley and the 
youth softly slipped his revolver from its hol- 
ster. But just as he was on the point of call- 
ing to the man to throw up his hands he be- 
came aware of another gray shadow moving 
about. This one was coming stealthily up the 
roadway he had just left and Jack thanked his 
lucky stars that he had hidden himself when 
he did. 

It was quite evident to the Vermonter that 
the two shadows intended to meet, but in or- 


146 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

der to accomplish this either one or the other 
must pass within six feet of him. For a mo- 
ment he scarcely knew what to do, for he real- 
ized that he could not handle two men at once. 

The man in the alley had paused, but the one 
in the roadway came forward softly and 
swiftly. When he was within fifteen feet of 
the crouching youth Jack could see him quite 
distinctly. He wore a very broad hat and the 
tight jacket of a rurale. Of a rurale! In- 
stantly the old Indian doctor’s story about a 
rurale with an injured foot flashed upon him! 
This must be the man of the scarred heel ! 

Throwing all caution to the wind, Jack 
dropped his revolver and leapt toward the 
shadowy figure. It was a perfect flying tackle 
and the man came down with a crash, his legs 
pinned tightly together, exactly as Jack had 
pinned the legs of many an opposing fullback 
on the field at Drueryville. 

The attack was so sudden that the man lay 
stunned for a moment. Then as if he sud- 
denly realized that it was a human being and 
not a vice that had gripped him, the soldier be- 
gan to struggle. He tried to kick and squirm 


THE NIGHT WATCH 


147 


his way out of the boy’s arms, at the same time 
thrashing about with his fists and cursing 
lustily in Spanish. He was a big man and ex- 
ceedingly powerful and Jack had all that he 
could do to hold him on the ground. 

The lad had the advantage, however, since 
the native was almost flat on his stomach. By 
careful maneuvering and the help of two or 
three wrestling holds that are known to every 
American boy he was soon able to work him- 
self astride the prostrated one and pin the 
refractory hands down as well. This accom- 
plished, the youth began to shout for help at 
the top of his voice. 

Mr. Ryder was first on the scene. He came 
running across from his cottage, a revolver in 
one hand and an electric flash lamp in the 
other. The Mexican linemen came tumbling 
out of their cottages a few moments later and 
immediately after two Mexican regulars ar- 
rived, all out of breath. 

‘Well, I think we’ve captured our man,” said 
Jack, panting in his excitement. “Here, lay 
hold of this fellow, so I can stand up.” 

The soldiers seized the prostrated one but 


148 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

they still kept him pinned flat on his stomach, 
in spite of his protests. 

“Mr. Ryder,’' said Jack, “I think this is 
the man with the scarred foot. Turn your 
light this way until we have a good look at 
his feet. He hasn’t any boots on, that’s cer- 
tain, for he moved about like a cat.” 

Hurriedly the engineer turned the light on 
the native’s naked feet and there, standing out 
plainly in spite of the dirt and dust, was a 
long scar that extended across the heel and 
partly up the side of his foot toward the ankle. 
The wound looked exactly as if the man had at 
one time stepped on a very sharp stone that 
had laid the flesh open to the bone. 

“By George, you’re right! He’s our man!” 
exclaimed the engineer jubilantly. Then to 
the soldiers in Spanish he said : 

“Hustle him off to the guardhouse, men, and 
put a double watch over him, for he’s a traitor. 
I’ll pay a peso a day to the men who watch 
him, but I’ll have the scoundrel shot who lets 
him get away.” 

Without any ceremony the regulars jerked 
the big man to his feet and marched him off 


THE NIGHT WATCH 


149 


down the street, Mr. Ryder and Jack follow- 
ing directly behind with their revolvers cocked 
and ready for action. But the heavy door to 
the prison pen had hardly been bolted behind 
the rurale when the town was aroused by an- 
other sensation. From down along the line 
of barbed wire fence came the sharp report of 
a rifle. The first report was followed by two 
others in quick succession. 

''What is it! An attack!” gasped Jack as 
he rushed forward with Mr. Ryder. The 
sound of firing aroused every man in the camp 
and in an instant half-clad soldiers and work- 
men came tumbling from barracks hall and 
cottage. 

"An attack! an attack!” was the cry they all 
uttered as they hurried into the trenches. 

But after the third shot the sentry’s guns 
were silent so long that Mr. Ryder and Jack 
and Lieutenant Hernandez and Captain 
Alvarez went to investigate. 

"What was the trouble?” they demanded of 
the first soldier they met. 

"Shadows came along the fence. Three, 
four, five of them all came to try and cut the 


150 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

wire. One dropped this/’ said the sentry as 
he held up an ugly looking machette, 

'That’s mighty bad news,” said Mr. Ryder, 
"for it looks to me as if the rebels are planning 
an attack. But we’ll fix these wire cutters 
to-morrow night. In the meantime you fel- 
lows keep awake and on the lookout until 
dawn.” 

But when the news of the shadowy wire 
cutters was spread about among the men there 
was little need for extra vigilance on the part 
of the sentries, for every man in the village 
stayed up until daylight discussing the pos- 
sibilities of an attack. Indeed, the sun was 
just rising as Jack and Mr. Ryder turned in 
for some much-needed sleep. 


CHAPTER XV 


IMPROVISED SEARCHLIGHTS 

‘‘T TELLY veil, on’y me no likee losee dlishe 
V pans, Misler Lyder. Me no velly 
much can usee pailes to washee dlishes in some- 
times. Jus' samee me no likee losee dlishe 
pan." 

Tom Why's voice accompanied by the clat- 
ter of tin pans awoke Jack next day, from a 
very sound sleep. The lad at first was 
thoroughly mystified, for it was rarely that 
good natured Tom ever objected to anything 
either he or Mr. Ryder did. It was evident,, 
however, from the pitch of the Chinaman's 
voice that he was slightly indignant. 

''Me can no savvy leason to put holes in him 
dlish pan. Him alle samee no glood then," 
continued Tom. 

"Well, I want to put wires through the bot- 
tom of the pans and make searchlights out of 


IS2 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

them. What if your old pans are spoiled, 
Tom. When the next train comes up from 
Mexico City Fll have a carload for you if you 
want them,’^ said Mr. Ryder. 

''Me no wantee clarload. Me wantee tlu 
dlishe pans, and me no wantee liars put thlu 
him bottom, too.’’ 

"All right, Tom,” laughed the engineer; 
"you shall have two of the finest dishpans 
south of the Rio Grande if you’ll only let me 
have these two.” 

"Velly veil, velly veil,” said Tom somewhat 
appeased at such an attractive offer. 

The conversation had done more than 
amuse Jack. It had made him thoroughly 
curious, for he could not understand how Mr. 
Ryder could make a searchlight out of a tin 
dishpan. He lost no time in tumbling out of 
bed and dressing, and five minutes after the 
engineer had left the house the youth was 
ready to follow him. Just as Jack entered the 
main room, however, Tom Why came in at the 
back door. 

"Hello there, Tom, did Mr. Ryder confiscate 
your dishpans?” asked the boy. 


IMPROVISED SEARCHLIGHTS 1 53 

him no dloo lat. Him just takee him 
dlish plans. Him get Tlom Why tlu flines 
likee clums to Melexeclo/’ said Tom with a 
grin. Then he added, “Allee samee Jack want 
him dlinner now?’’ 

‘‘Dinner?” exclaimed the boy, “why, what 
time is it? Well, by George, if it isn’t three 
o’clock. I’ve slept nearly ten hours. How 
long has Mr. Ryder been up?” 

“Him alle samee come from him room an’ 
slay, ‘Tom, glet my bleckflast!’ Then him 
look at him clock him slay, ‘Gleat Clats, him 
one o’clock. Tom, glet me my dlinner !’ ” Tom 
tried to imitate the engineer as he quoted Mr. 
Ryder’s remarks and the result made Jack 
laugh heartily. 

In a surprisingly short time the Chinaman 
had the table spread and a steaming hot meal 
before the young American. But the lad hur- 
ried every mouthful (much to Tom’s displeas- 
ure), for he was eager to reach the plant and 
witness the operation of converting tin dish- 
pans into searchlights. Also, he was curious 
to know what had transpired since dawn that 
morning. 


154 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

When Jack reached the little machine shop 
on the north side of the power plant he found 
Mr. Ryder in the center of a pile of wire, 
pieces of iron pipe, electric light bulbs and all 
sorts of odds and ends. The engineer was 
busily engaged with one of Tom’s precious tin 
dishpans. 

''Oh ! there you are, I thought you were due 
to sleep all day,” said the engineer banteringly 
as Jack arrived. "You are just in time to wit- 
ness an attempt to build a genuine spotlight 
out of the cook’s most cherished possession.” 

"I heard all about it when you were trying 
to persuade Tom to be generous with his pans. 
What do you mean to do anyway?” said Jack. 

"Why, I intend to spring a little surprise on 
our wire-cutting friends this evening if they 
should happen around, which I expect they will. 
I’m going to put a cluster of electric bulbs in 
each of these tin dishpans, and put them up on 
iron rods in position so that they will sweep 
the line of barbed-wire defense. I’m going 
to keep them dark until the sentries see the 
'shadows’ that visited us last night, then I’m 
going to switch them on and have a firing 


IMPROVISED SEARCHLIGHTS 155 

party ready. Oh ! the wire cutters will receive 
an ideal reception, Ell warrant. You see, 
fairly bright tin shaped in this manner will 
magnify the light beam from three to five 
times and that will throw a spotlight as far as 
necessary. Tin is an excellent reflector for all 
ordinary purposes. With the ten thirty-two 
candlepower lamps which I intend to use in 
each cluster, I will get a beam of light 
1600 candlepower intensity. Of course that 
amounts to very little when compared with the 
huge thirty-inch searchlight of ours that mag- 
nified a light several hundred times. 

''These searchlights will be operated by re- 
mote control; that is, a wire will be run from 
the lights to the roof of the power station 
where Phil will be on duty as usual. The mo- 
ment he gets a signal from the sentries he will 
throw on a switch which will connect with 
both wires and the line of fence will be lighted 
from either direction at once. The firing 
squad will be just beyond the lower trenches 
and behind the lights, so that they will not be 
blinded by the sudden glare. The bandits on 
the other hand will be surprised and made tern- 


156 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

porarily blind by the sudden flash of light and 
before they get away the riflemen will dis- 
courage any idea of future wire cutting par- 
ties/’ 

‘Tt sounds like a first-rate scheme,” said 
Jack appreciatively. Then suddenly remem- 
bering the prisoner of the night before he 
queried: ‘‘How is our friend, the rurale? 
Have you seen him to-day?” 

“Yes, I’ve seen him,” said the engineer as 
he paused in his work of fitting a group of 
lamp sockets inside the tin pan. “He’s a 
mighty meek individual too just now. I guess 
his thoughts are on the trial he’s to have to- 
morrow morning. The chief witnesses over- 
slept this morning or he would probably have 
faced court-martial before this. It was a 
lucky thing for him that we did oversleep too, 
for it gives him a few hours longer to live at 
any rate.” 

“What does he have to say for himself?” 
asked the lad. 

“Well, in the first place, he’s the man whom 
Senor Yuai described. He did live in the In- 
dian village over the mountain, and he did 


IMPROVISED SEARCHLIGHTS 1 57 

cut his foot by stepping on a machette. His 
name is Alfonso Perro. I asked him why he 
was sneaking about the place last night and 
he said that he had made arrangements with 
the peon who keeps the cottage for the line- 
man to get some pulque for the troopers. Pul- 
que is the Mexican drink, you know. It is 
made from the sap of the century plant or 
maquay plant and when properly prepared is a 
very fiery and highly intoxicating drink. 
Don’t ever touch it, my boy, for it has ruined 
the chance of more than one American who 
acquired a taste for it. We do not allow it 
to be brought into Necaxa at all, but the rurale 
says that every time the linemen’s peon goes 
to the village he smuggles in several jugs of the 
stuff. Some was smuggled in yesterday and 
the rurale said he was on his way to get it and 
bring it back to the barracks when you cap- 
tured him. Of course I have had the peon 
arrested also. He too is in the guardhouse, 
but he swears that he has never smuggled pul- 
que into Necaxa. 

'T accused Perro of having tampered with 
the machinery in the plant from time to time 


158 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

and also of stealing my plans, and I must say 
he is a very good actor, for he feigned sur- 
prise wonderfully well. But when I told him 
how we set a trap for him and discovered that 
he had a scar on his foot he looked even more 
surprised, and that surprise was genuine. I 
think Captain Alvarez, of the rurales, is de- 
cidedly angry over the whole affair and he is 
determined to have the prisoner face a firing 
squad as soon as possible.’’ 

‘‘Well, I can’t help feeling a little sorry for 
the man,” said Jack, who felt rather unhappy 
when he realized how much he had helped in 
sending the man to his end. 

“I feel sorry myself,” added Mr. Ryder, 
“and if he would only tell the truth about the 
plans and give me some idea where they are 
I’d do my utmost to save his life. However, 
the best that I could do would be of little avail. 
I’m afraid, for Captain Alvarez takes charge 
of all prisoners and the man’s fate is entirely 
in his hands.” 

The two searchlights were completed late 
that afternoon, but Mr. Ryder did not make 


IMPROVISED SEARCHLIGHTS 1 59 

an attempt to erect them until after dark, for 
as he explained to Jack, ‘Those bandits may 
have lookouts stationed on the mountains, and 
to have them see our new lights would knock 
the little surprise party into a cocked hat/' 

It required but a very little time to put the 
lamps in place, for the engineer had fastened 
each tin pan to a section of iron pipe and this 
was easily strapped to a tree at either end of 
the clearing in front of the plant. The sen- 
tries were carefully coached that night before 
they were sent to their post, and most of the 
men in the village as well as the extra soldiers 
and rurales, gathered in the trenches to watch 
for developments. 

But hours of waiting under such strained 
conditions was far from comfortable and after 
a while the men grew restive. In twos and 
threes they began to leave for their cottages, 
quite disappointed that nothing spectacular 
had happened. Jack, who was in the first 
trench, began to grow tired of the suspense 
too. Indeed, he was just on the point of go- 
ing back to the cottage himself, when sud- 


i6o JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

denly a rifle shot rang out at one end of the 
clearing. This was followed by another fur- 
ther up the line of fence and instantly Phil 
Underwood, on the roof, jammed home the 
switch. 

The flood of light that swept along the bar- 
ricade revealed almost a score of bandits, with 
machettes and big wire nippers. Some were 
discovered in the very act of snipping strands 
of wire while others, thoroughly frightened, 
were turning to flee, but they had scarcely 
moved two steps before the roar of a dozen 
rifles burst forth. 

Jack saw two men toss up their hands and 
pitch forward in the grass. Another stag- 
gered a few steps, then he too fell in a limp 
heap. Other shots rang out, but the rebels 
got beyond the range of the improvised search- 
lights and were lost in the dark before any 
others were brought down. 

It all transpired so quickly that Jack could 
hardly believe his eyes. He felt as if he had 
been looking at a motion picture of something 
that had taken place in a far-off land. But he 


IMPROVISED SEARCHLIGHTS i6i 


realized the horror of it all when several sol- 
diers crawled under the barbed wire fence and 
picked up the three lifeless forms. Indeed, 
he was forced to turn away, for the whole 
scene became very repulsive to him. The idea 
of trapping human beings like rats and slaugh- 
tering them, was hideous. But the other men 
laughed and joked over the occurrence exactly 
as if they had but recently witnessed a per- 
formance at a theater. 


CHAPTER XVI 


A WARNING 

‘‘TTI there, Jack, is that you?” called Mr. 

XjL Ryder as the lad entered the cottage. 

''Yes, but what on earth are you doing here 
with all the rumpus down at the plant?” 

"Oh, Eve been here for the last hour or 
more. To tell you the truth, my boy, I did not 
have the heart to remain and see the outcome. 
I knew the trap would work; in fact, I was 
afraid it would work too well. How many 
men did they kill. Jack?” There was a note 
of anxiety in the engineer’s voice as he asked 
the question. 

"Three,” replied the boy. 

"Well, thank heavens it wasn’t more,” said 
Mr. Ryder somewhat relieved. "The rifle- 
men would have had no compunction if the 
number had been thirty-three, but I have. It 
seems wicked and inhuman to sacrifice three 

162 


A WARNING 163 

lives in order to teach the beggars a lesson. 
It makes me very unhappy."" 

Jack was glad to find that Mr. Ryder took 
this attitude in the matter. If the truth were 
known he had secretly felt a little bitter toward 
the engineer for concocting such a diabolical 
trap. But when he saw how unhappy it had 
made the man his bitterness turned to sym- 
pathy. 

^^It does seem mighty hard to kill three men 
in order to teach the rest of them a lesson, but 
I suppose it was absolutely necessary for our 
own safety,"" said the youth in an effort to re- 
lieve the engineer’s feelings. 

‘‘You are quite right, my lad. It is hard, 
but it had to be done. Sometimes, you know, 
the lesson is almost as disagreeable to the 
teacher as it is to the pupil. I hope to good- 
ness we"ll have no more of this slaughter, but 
the way the rebels are acting I am very much 
afraid that we will be in for a real battle be- 
fore the trouble is settled. I sincerely hope 
Fm wrong."" 

The engineer was sitting at the table in the 
center of the room, a mass of blueprints, draw- 


i 64 jack straw in MEXICO 

ings and typewritten data spread out in front 
of him. His shirt was open at the throat, for 
the evening was very warm and his revolver 
and cartridge belt had been removed and tossed 
carelessly on the table before him. 

“What are all the plans?’' queried Jack as he 
sat down opposite the engineer. 

“These are the original sketches and pre- 
liminary drawings from which I worked out 
my lightning arrester,” replied Mr. Ryder. 
“It begins to look as if the stolen papers 
weren’t going to turn up. Our rurale with 
the scarred foot denies all knowledge of their 
whereabouts, which means that he will never 
tell where they are, even if he does happen to 
know, for a Mexican can be mighty stubborn 
when he feels disposed that way. Under the 
circumstances, I fancy I’ll have to dig a new 
set of blueprints out of these old plans. 

“And that isn’t going to be the easiest work 
in the world, let me tell you. I have paid very 
little attention to the preliminary papers since 
I worked out the final plans and the conse- 
quence is many of the more important sketches 
and formulas have disappeared. I am mighty 


A WARNING 


165 

sorry that I did not make duplicate drawings 
before I sent the plans to Drueryville. The 
worst feature of the whole thing is the fact 
that I have not yet applied for patent rights 
either in this country or the United States. 
I could not take this step until I had secured 
Dr. Moorland’s formula, you know, because 
that was one of the fundamental features of 
the new appliance. In that case whoever has 
the plans can very easily apply for patents in 
his own name and then all my work will have 
been for nothing. Indeed, if I wanted to use 
my own invention after that I would probably 
be forced to pay a royalty to some one else. 
That would be a fine how-de-do, wouldn’t 
it?” 

Though the boy could be of very little assist- 
ance to the engineer, just then, he remained at 
the table. Somehow, plans and blueprints had 
a certain fascination for Jack, who hoped to be- 
come an engineer some day. He spread one 
of the more simple charts before him and tried 
to work out the details for himself. How long 
he had been absorbed in this task he did not 
know, but suddenly, just outside the cottage. 


i66 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

sounded a patter of naked feet, then some one 
sprang upon the porch in front of the door, 
shouting as he did so: 

''Los Zapatistas! Los Zapatistas! Viene 
Ellosr 

"The rebels, they are coming! What can 
he mean!’’ shouted Mr. Ryder as he leaped 
from his chair and reached for his revolver. 
The next instant the door was pushed vio- 
lently open and an Indian exhausted and with 
blood dripping from an ugly wound in his 
shoulder, plunged into the room. 

'Tt is Miguel the Indian runner, and he’s 
wounded,” exclaimed Jack, immediately rec- 
ognizing the red man as the one whose dog he 
had saved from the alligator several weeks be- 
fore. 

Clutching the end of the table for support, 
the native began to talk very rapidly, and as 
the engineer listened, his face took on a 
startled and somewhat puzzled look. 

'Tie says that he has run ten miles to warn 
us that Jose Cerro and his band are planning 
to attack us to-night!” explained Mr. Ryder 
when the native finally ceased talking. "He 


A WARNING 


167 

says that they are on the way now and that 
we must hurry and prepare to meet their at- 
tack or we will be overwhelmed!” 

‘^How does he know this?” demanded Jack, 
thoroughly excited. 

^'He carried mail to Los Angeles to-night,” 
said Mr. Ryder, “and while he was lingering- 
in the village a native told him that the fa- 
mous bandit Jose Cerro was there. The na- 
tive pointed out the very house where Jose 
Cerro was drinking pulque with some of his 
lieutenants. He became curious to see a man 
of such a villainous reputation and crept close 
to the shack and peered into the window. He 
not only saw the villain but he heard most of 
their conversation. He was startled, for he 
realized that he was overhearing the plans for 
an attack on the power plant. He heard Jose 
Cerro say. The fence wires are all cut by now 
and the big searchlight crippled. Everything 
is ready for the attack. Our men need only to 
rush in, seize Sehor Ryder and carry him off. 
Then I will collect three thousand pesos from 
our benefactor before we start to join Zapata 
and capture the railroad. Then if we play our 


i68 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

part right we can hold this great electrical 
engineer for a ransom from his friends in 
America perhaps. If we can’t do that we can 
kill him at least, though I’d much prefer to 
hold him and collect gringo gold for his re- 
lease. How say you, men?’ At this there 
were many cheers. 

‘^Miguel became less cautious for he wanted 
to hear more. The result was that Jose Cerro 
saw him through the window and fired his 
revolver at him. The bullet hit him in the 
shoulder. The town was in an uproar immedi- 
ately but the runner did not wait. As fast as 
he could he ran toward the power plant, glad, 
he says, of an opportunity to be of service to 
the gringo who saved his dog from the alli- 
gators.” 

The Indian had stood by the table during 
Mr. Ryder’s recital, his face distorted with 
the pain of the wound in his shoulder, and as 
the lad looked at him he realized just how 
much hardship the red man had withstood to 
repay a debt of kindness. 

'We must prepare to meet the attack imme- 
diately,” said Jack calmly, "but before I move 


A WARNING 


169 

a step I am going to bind up this poor fel- 
low’s wound and see that he is comforta- 
ble.” 

^^Fine! Take care of him and I’ll go and 
spread the alarm. Hurry down to the 
trenches when you’re through,” said Mr. 
Ryder as he seized a rifle and rushed out the 
door. 

Although Jack could not talk to the Indian, 
he soon made the red man understand by mo- 
tions that he wanted to take care of the bullet 
wound. The native smiled gratefully at this 
and sat down in Mr. Ryder’s chair while the 
young American hastened out to Tom Why’s 
cook house. The lad routed the worthy 
Chinaman out of bed and bade him heat some 
water immediately. In the meantime, he 
found some clean linen with which to make 
bandages. 

Tom Why was a willing assistant and in 
short order all blood stains had been wiped 
from the runner’s chest and arm and the 
wound bathed. Then Jack bound a bandage 
tightly about the injured shoulder and after 
preparing a cup of steaming hot coffee, showed 


170 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

the native to one of the bedrooms and insisted 
that he lay down and rest for a while. Dur- 
ing all this, the tawny yellow hound which had 
followed the Indian into the cottage, kept close 
to his master’s side. The animal seemed to 
appreciate everything that Jack and Tom did 
for the redman, for his tail wagged furiously 
all the time. And when the runner lay down 
upon Jack’s bed the hound curled himself up 
in the doorway as if to keep guard while 
Miguel was sleeping. 

When the Indian was comfortable, the Ver- 
monter buckled on his own revolver, and sling- 
ing a heavy cartridge belt over his shoulder 
seized one of the rifles in the corner and hur- 
ried out to the trenches. 

At the plant every one was in a state of ex- 
citement. The ugly-looking, three-inch field- 
piece had been un jacketed and made ready for 
action. The battery of French machine guns, 
those death-dealing instruments that fired more 
than four hundred shots a minute, had all been 
mounted and manned, and soldiers and work- 
men alike all fully armed, waited crouching in 
the trenches. The two improvised search- 


A WARNING 


171 

lights were still burning and by their light the 
whole scene looked weird and uncanny. 

Mr. Ryder was as active as the rest, direct- 
ing the position of the defenders and arrang- 
ing other details. But in the midst of it all he 
found time to call Jack aside and hold a brief 
conversation with him. 

'That Indian’s story has me thoroughly puz- 
zled. If all he says is true, and I have no rea- 
son to believe otherwise, some one is certainly 
plotting for my downfall. Whom do you sup- 
pose Jose Cerro’s 'benefactor’ is anyway? 
This is the most mysterious situation I have 
ever been mixed up with in my life. It cer- 
tainly has me guessing. I wonder if — Look! 
Look! See that flash over there! On the 
mountain ! Listen ! Hear the roar ! It’s the 
rebels ! They’ve lugged their old fieldpiece up 
there again. They are trying to drop shells 
down here ! Ho, boys ! Bill ! Joe ! Did you 
see that flash ! Throw a shell or two up there 
the next time they fire!” The last was ad- 
dressed to the men in charge of the three-inch 
gun. 

Again came the flash, then the far-off roar 


172 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

and Jack heard the shell go humming high in 
the air above the plant and burst against the 
mountain across the river. But this time the 
gun on the mountain was answered by the one 
at the plant. The battery belched forth a 
cloud of fire and smoke and a moment later 
Jack saw a flash of fire in the woods across 
the valley where the shell exploded. The field- 
piece at the plant was of the quick-firing 
variety and four shots were hurled up on to the 
mountain before another one was sent toward 
the station. 

Twice shells burst within the inclosure 
about the plant, one carrying away a section 
of the rurales’ barracks hall and setting fire to 
the rest of it. The flames added to the excite- 
ment of the occasion but were quickly extin- 
guished by two men with a hose, held in readi- 
ness for that very kind of emergency. Until 
just before daylight, the firing kept up, then 
the gun on the mountain became strangely si- 
lent and the men at Necaxa concluded that 
their shells had put it into disuse forever. 
But when the first golden streak of morning 
showed above the mountain tops, and the valley 


A WARNING 


173 


became light enough for the men to see any 
distance, a new terror took the place of the 
gun on the mountain. From here and there 
in the underbrush across the valley bottom 
came tiny jets of smoke, and Jack for the first 
time in his life heard the ominous hum of 
bullets fired with deadly earnestness. Jose 
Cerro’s sharpshooters seemed everywhere and 
the flying pellets of lead and steel kicked up 
the dust in all directions. For a long time the 
rifles in the trenches were silent, for the men 
could locate no one to fire at. The fieldpiece, 
however, kept shelling the forest but with lit- 
tle effect, for the gunners could not see the 
enemy. 

Then suddenly two natives showed them- 
selves on the edge of the wood. Instantly, a 
volley rang out from the defenders and the 
French machine guns began to rattle viciously. 
The battle was on! 


CHAPTER XVrl 

‘Vho will be food for the vultures!'’ 

O F the two men, one advanced. The other 
lay writhing in pain on the ground, but 
his place was taken by twenty more, forty 
more, eighty more, a hundred, two hundred. 
They emerged from every bush, from behind 
trees, they arose from the long grass, they 
appeared as if by magic. On they came, yell- 
ing, screaming; swarthy faces distorted, the 
lust of battle in their eyes. 

‘‘Here they come, boys 1 Steady 1 Keep 
cool and fight, light, fight!” screamed Mr. 
Ryder to the men in the trenches. 

His instructions were answered by a mighty 
cheer; a war-cry that sent a thrill down Jack 
Straw’s back. 

All thoughts of danger, all thoughts of 
everything but the fight, were driven from the 
lad’s brain by that cheer. In his hands he 
174 


‘TOOD FOR THE VULTURES’’ 175 


gripped a rifle. About his shoulders were 
two hundred rounds of ammunition. With 
these he must fight, Ught, fight! 

He was surprised to find how calm and col- 
lected he felt as he crouched there in the first 
trench, shoulder to shoulder with a rurale on 
one side and Harvey Carroll on the other. 
Over his head whistled a thousand screaming 
messengers of death. They plunged into the 
earthy embankment in front of him and threw 
dirt and pebbles into his eyes and mouth. 
They whistled past his cheeks and thumped 
against the wall of the power station behind 
him. Yet for all he was calm, insanely calm, 
it seemed to him. 

Carefully and methodically he slipped a shell 
from his cartridge belt and held it between his 
teeth while he threw open the breech block of 
his rifle. Without any apparent haste he 
slipped the brass thing home, closed the breech 
and put the piece to his shoulder. Then with 
the utmost deliberation he selected one of those 
ugly distorted faces for his target and taking 
careful aim pulled the trigger. 

Thus did the boy load and fire, load and fire, 


176 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

a dozen times while the screaming mob came 
on. All along the double line of trenches, 
workmen and soldiers were doing the same as 
he. And behind him the battery of French 
machine guns, two on the roof and the others 
against the wall of the power station, spat 
vehemently four hundred times a minute. 
Yet with all this stubborn defense the motley 
mob advanced. They rushed, shrieking and 
screaming, across the valley bottom toward the 
barbed-wire barricade, pausing only to reload 
and fire. They came on, on, on, sombreros 
and jackets flapping, red lips parted and white 
teeth showing like a pack of blood-thirsty 
wolves. Two men reached the barbed-wire 
fence, one began to climb but he stopped at the 
second strand and his bullet-riddled body hung 
on the fence for the rest of the battle. The 
other hacked away with a machette, trying 
hard to sever the wires. Jack was surprised to 
see how long he remained exposed to the 
grueling fire before he fell. 

Others reached the fence; one man clutched 
the top strand and vaulted clear, but he did not 
stand on his feet when he landed. Another 


'TOOD FOR THE VULTURES’’ 177 

climbed a post only to pitch backward, bowling 
over two men directly behind him. But they 
came so thick and fast after that, that Jack 
could only see them as a mass. They pressed 
against the barrier like cattle ; they raged, they 
cursed, they screamed, while the bullets from 
the machine guns mowed them down like rye 
before a scythe. But the press was too great ! 
The fence came down with a crash and the 
way to the plant was cleared for them ! 

A groan arose from the trenches when the 
men saw this, for the Necaxa force was out- 
numbered five to one in spite of the havoc of 
the machine guns. Jack’s spirit sank with the 
rest, for he realized that the end was near un- 
less they could stop the rush of that blood- 
thirsty mob. But suddenly he heard a voice 
above the roar of battle and looking in the di- 
rection from whence it came, he saw Mr. Ryder 
standing exposed on the embankment of the 
first trench. 

‘'Boys, boys!” he shouted; “look overhead! 
The vultures! Shall they feed on us or the 
greasers to-night?” Jack looked aloft, there 
in the blue heavens were two huge birds cir- 


178 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

cling slowly around over the battle field. It 
was dramatic! It was hideous! Others 
looked, too, and the grim specter had its effect. 

‘The greasers! the greasers! let them be 
food for the vultures! Make them carrion, 
fellows!^’ was the cry that went up from the 
trenches, and some men in their anger stood 
bolt upright to load and fire. The rain of 
bullets that swept down the grassy slope was 
annihilating. The oncoming mob stopped ! 
The rebels' dogged rush was checked! For 
five minutes they tried to hold their ground 
against the withering fire. Jhen suddenly 
they broke and ran for cover. 

At this a shout of triumph went up from the 
trenches. The men all stood upright then and 
pumped bullets after the scattered force of 
Jose Cerro. Jack discarded his rifle entirely 
and drawing his revolver leapt to the top of 
the breastworks and fired, round after round 
at the tattered brigade that was hurrying 
across the valley, until the last of the Mexicans 
was lost in the forest. Then he paused and 
as he wiped the perspiration from his brow, he 
remarked to no one in particular: 



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“FOOD FOR THE VULTURES^’ 179 

“By crackey, for excitement this beats all/’ 

Harvey Carroll overheard him and smiled. 
“So it appeals to you, eh?” he queried. 

“Appeals to me? No, not exactly, but 
nevertheless it’s exciting! How long did it 
last? About fifteen minutes, I guess.” 

But Jack was disillusioned on this point 
when he looked at his watch. He could hardly 
believe it but he had been in the midst of death 
for two hours and had come through it all 
without a single scratch. This was not true of 
others, however. From here and there in the 
trenches came groans of anguish, telling plainly 
that more than one of the murderous soft- 
nosed Mexican bullets had found its mark. 
Jack saw many motionless forms too, and he 
knew that the power plant would be short 
handed for a while. 

The lad did not have long to view the situa- 
tion, however, for soon he heard the voice of 
the engineer giving commands in English and 
Spanish. These were to the effect that every 
man should get busy and repair the broken- 
down barricade before the rebels rallied and 
began another assault. Rifles were discarded 


i8o JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

immediately and axes and shovels substituted. 
With these, soldiers and workmen alike began 
to reset the broken-down posts and restring 
the wires. Jack and Mr. Ryder did their part. 
They worked side by side with the rest, in 
spite of the fact that they had been longer 
than twenty-four hours without sleep. 

Once Jack paused in his work and standing 
erect, viewed the valley. Dead men lay 
everywhere. They were piled thick along the 
line of fence and scattered broadcast from the 
bottom of the slope to the edge of the wood, 
and though the bodies were not yet cold the 
vultures were feeding. The scavengers of 
Mexico were already at work clearing the bat- 
tle field. 

As soon as the fence was repaired and re- 
inforced with hundreds of feet of extra barbed 
wire which the workmen brought from the 
storehouse, Mr. Ryder appointed a hospital 
squad and a burial squad from amongst the 
infantry men. They were detailed to go 
across the valley gathering up the dead and 
the wounded. When this was well under way 
the engineer returned to the plant, to look after 


^TOOD FOR THE VULTURES’^ i8i 

the hospital work there. Lyman, Carroll and 
several other Americans who were not needed 
inside the plant at that time, had gathered up 
the injured and taken them inside a big well- 
lighted toolhouse. 

Mr. Ryder glanced about the room; he 
studied the faces of the wounded and scru- 
tinized the attendants closely. Finally, he 
turned to Jack and said: 

‘'Say, son, have you seen my assistant? 
Nedham, I mean. I haven’t seen him since 
last night. I was looking for him in the 
trenches, but couldn’t find him. Thought 
maybe he was wounded early and brought 
here.” 

Jack could not recall having seen Nedham. 
So Mr. Ryder called Lyman. 

“Hi, Lyman, come here.” 

Lyman made his way between the pros- 
trated forms to his chief’s side. 

“Have you seen Nedham, lately?” queried 
the engineer. . 

“Why — er — ah, why I think the last glimpse 
I caught of him was when the three-inch field- 
piece opened up. He came through the 


i 82 jack straw in MEXICO 

operating room. Said he was on his way to 
the roof to look after some machine guns up 
there. Haven’t seen him since.” 

‘‘Well,” said Mr. Ryder, “that’s a peculiar 
place for my assistant when I need him along- 
side of me all the time. If you see him again 
tell him I want him. He’ll find me here with 
the wounded.” 

Jack was surprised to find out how many 
had been injured in the battle. There were 
more than a score of workmen and soldiers 
stretched out on the toolhouse floor, and the 
few Americans available had all they could do 
to care for the wants of the wounded. Jack 
noted that one of the busiest of the attendants 
was the Indian runner whom he had left in 
his room before the battle started. The red 
man was going about among the wounded with 
a gourd of water in his right hand. His left 
was bandaged tightly across his breast and 
entirely useless because of Jose Cerro’s bullet. 
Jack learned later on that the messenger had 
entered the trenches at the opening of the bat- 
tle and all through the conflict had handled a 


‘TOOD FOR THE VULTURES’’ 183 


huge six shooter which he had found in Mr. 
Ryder’s cottage. 

The youth and the engineer turned to with 
the rest and tried to make things more com- 
fortable for the sufferers. They had not been 
at work long, however, before Arthur Strong, 
the tall, light-haired day operator, came rush- 
ing in. The moment he saw Mr. Ryder he 
began to shout: 

'The lines are down! The lines are down! 
Mexico City’s service is cut off.” 


CHAPTER XVIII 


THE WIRES ARE DOWN 

T he news was staggering! Mr. Ryder 
stood blinking at the man for fully a 
minute before he could comprehend the situa- 
tion. Then as he realized that his one desire, 
to keep the current flowing uninterruptedly 
into Mexico City, had been thwarted, his face 
grew very white and tense, but instantly this 
expression changed to one of determination. 

‘'We’ll put these lines back again in the face 
of every obstacle,” he thundered. Then, 
turning, he addressed the men in the room. 

“Boys, the lines are down! Eor the first 
time since I’ve been in charge of Necaxa, 
Mexico City is without juice! I’m going to 
open the service again ! Who is going to help 
me !” 

“I am !” came the chorus and every man who 
could stand crowded about the engineer and 
184 


THE WIRES ARE DOWN 185 

pleaded to be taken along. Even some of the 
wounded men raised themselves on their 
elbows and begged to be permitted to help in 
the crisis. 

Quietly and methodically Mr. Ryder went 
about picking out his assistants. Two burly 
Mexican linemen were the first selected, then 
Harvey Carroll of the maintenance depart- 
ment under whose jurisdiction came all the 
repair work along the transmission line, and 
last of all a swarthy rurale, known among the 
men as the best rider and best marksman of 
all the Necaxa troop. 

''You five will be enough. Carroll, you and 
the linemen get your repair kits and have the 
mozos saddle five horses. WeTe to start im- 
mediately.” Then as the men were turning to 
go, the engineer called them together again. 

"Perhaps I should warn you boys of the 
dangers that face us. I have an idea that this 
breaking down of the transmission lines is 
nothing more or less than a trap. Where we 
find the trouble we will also find a swarm of 
rebels ambushed. They may shoot us from 
the poles just as they would shoot so many 


i86 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

pheasants. In fact, the more I think of it the 
more confident I am that they have pulled the 
wires down for the very purpose of luring 
some of us out into the mountains so that they 
can square accounts. Considering the situa- 
tion in that light, do you all feel just as en- 
thusiastic about going?’’ 

''You bet we do,” came the hearty response 
and the five men hurried out to get their equip- 
ment together. 

"Fine,” said Mr. Ryder, then turning and 
addressing the rest of the men in the toolhouse 
he said: 

"It will be up to you fellows to guard the 
place from an attack until we return. I know 
your number is small now and some of our 
best fighters are out of commission, but just 
the same you must hold the place against any 
further assault. I don’t expect you’ll have 
much trouble after the way we treated Jose 
Cerro and his rebels this morning, but never- 
theless you can’t afford to have your eyes 
closed. Clear up the place and get everything 
shipshape and ready for instant action. 

"And as for you,” he continued, turning to 


THE WIRES ARE DOWN 187 

Jack Straw, ''youVe acquitted yourself well 
to-day and I must compliment you. Now, to 
top off all this, I want you to keep your eyes 
on the clock. It is exactly eleven o’clock. If 
we are not back or you do not get word from 
us by three this afternoon, arrange with Cap- 
tain Alvarez, of the rurales, to have the whole 
squad ride the transmission line in search of 
us. They may get there in time to find our 
dead bodies, but anyway we can feel certain of 
a decent burial, can’t we, my boy?” 

^Wou’re right you can, but I certainly hope 
that we’ll be able to locate you before burial 
is necessary, if we have to look for you at 
all,” replied Jack. 

A few moments later the four other mem- 
bers of the repair squad rode up to the door 
of the improvised hospital, leading Mr. 
Ryder’s mount. The engineer shook hands 
with all his friends and bade them good-by 
while his assistants did likewise. Then when 
all were mounted and ready, word was given 
and the five horses went racing across the en- 
closure, through the gate and on to the trail 
that followed the line of transmission cables. 


i88 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

For half an hour they pushed ahead at a 
steady canter, keeping a careful watch on the 
shrubbery and underbrush for signs of the 
enemy. They saw any number of dead rebels. 
All along the trail were bodies of men who 
had been wounded in the recent battle and 
who had followed their companions until they 
dropped from sheer exhaustion. 

About four miles from Necaxa they located 
the break. The four large cables were com- 
pletely down, but fortunately the parallel tele- 
phone wire was still in service. At first Mr. 
Ryder was at loss to know just how the peons 
had done the work until he examined the cable 
and discovered bullet marks. 

‘T have it,’’ he exclaimed suddenly; ''the 
greasers have pumped shot into the cables and 
insulators until the lines simply couldn’t stay 
up. I guess the telephone wire was too small 
for them to hit. I’m mighty glad they are 
such poor shots. They have done very little 
damage for the cables are not cut to amount to 
anything. All that is necessary is some new 
porcelain insulators on the poles and a little 
patchwork on the lines and we will be able to 


THE WIRES ARE DOWN 189 

give Huerta his service in an hour. Come, 
boys, up the poles there and get the insulators 
in place. Cut in on the ’phone line and tell 
the station we’ll have the work done in an 
hour.” 

The men became active immediately, even 
the rurale taking a hand in the work. From 
the four repair kits enough insulators were 
secured to equip the pole. The two linemen 
were sent aloft to install these while Mr. 
Ryder, Carroll and the rurale stayed on the 
ground to repair the lines. They were all so 
thoroughly busy and so absorbed in their work 
that none of them heard the soft patter of 
naked feet on the trail and in the underbrush 
about the pole. Indeed, they were surprised 
almost to the point of speechlessness when a 
wicked-faced little Mexican, revolver in hand, 
stepped into full view before them and re- 
quested them in Spanish to hold up their 
hands. 

Mr. Ryder and the rurale jumped up sim- 
ultaneously and reached for their guns but the 
ugly-looking Mexican merely smiled as he 
turned his revolver to cover them completely. 


190 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

‘'Ah, Sehor Ryder, I would not try to shoot 
if I were you, the woods are full of rifles,'' he 
said very politely in Spanish. And it was 
true. Mr. Ryder could see a peon behind 
every bush and tree. 

“It is Jose Cerro," hissed the rurale as he 
put his hands above his head. 

“Yes, it is I, Jose Cerro," answered the 
Mexican calmly. Then turning to the 
engineer he said, “I hoped to get some of you 
in this trap, but I never expected to have the 
good fortune of capturing Senor Ryder, I am 
sure. I am indeed honored to have you as my 
prisoner. I am also pleased for other rea- 
sons, for your capture means three thousand 
pesos to me and perhaps more, who knows." 

“Three thousand pesos ! Who will give you 
that amount?" demanded the engineer. 

“Ah, senor, would it be loyal of me to re- 
veal the name of my benefactor, especially 
when he does not want his identity known?" 
asked Zapata's lieutenant suavely. Then he 
answered the question himself by saying, 
“No, no, that would not be kind. I cannot 
tell you, Senor Ryder, but I can tell you that 


THE WIRES ARE DOWN 191 

you must come with me. You must hurry too, 
before your rurales hear of this trap. For 
my force is far too small as it is, thanks to the 
excellent fighting of you gringoes. Ho ! men ! 
come, take these monkeys from their perch on 
the pole. We must away with our prisoners. 
Come V 

A horde of battle-scarred peons appeared 
immediately, and with threatening speech and 
gestures managed to persuade the two Mexican 
linemen to climb down from the pole. Each 
of the five prisoners was commanded to 
mount his horse, then according to Jose 
Cerro’s instructions, peons bound their feet to- 
gether under the horses’ stomachs and tied 
their hands behind their backs. This done the 
leader gave a few brief commands and the 
band started to move, striking off at right 
angle to the trail that followed the transmis- 
sion line. They seemed to be following an in- 
visible path through the thicket that led into 
a narrow ravine between the mountains in the 
direction of the broad valley where Los Angeles 
was located. 

But they had hardly left the tiny clearing 


192 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

about the pole when the figure of an Indian 
and a tawny hound crept out of the bushes. 
The redman was clad only in canvas trousers 
that were rolled up to his knees, and his left 
arm and shoulder was swathed in bandages. 
A moment he paused while his black eyes 
searched the ground and the surrounding 
shrubbery. Suddenly he caught sight of the 
narrow trail left by the cavalcade. 

‘'Ugh,’’ he grunted, “they have gone toward 
the sunrise. They have no horses. We shall 
easily catch Jose Cerro.” He paused a mo- 
ment longer to examine the trail, then, stand- 
ing erect, he mused : 

“I am right. Only so many horses as I 
have fingers, no more. Those are Senor 
Ryder’s.” 

And he disappeared as silently as he came. 


CHAPTER XIX 

TO THE rescue! 

I T was some time before Jack and the rest 
of the Americans were able to make the 
wounded comfortable in the makeshift hos- 
pital. When the task was accomplished, how- 
ever, Phil Underwood and Lance Carpenter 
were put in permanent charge of the tool- 
house. Their first action was to bar every 
one else from entering the building and dis- 
turbing their patients. 

Since nothing remained for Jack to do but 
obey these orders, the lad soon left the place 
and sought employment with the men who 
were engaged in eliminating the evidences of 
the recent battle from the vicinity of the 
power house. In the meantime, however, he 
kept careful track of the time and constant 
watch for some message from Mr. Ryder and 
the repair crew. 

As a result of the industriousness of the 
193 


194 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

regulars, the dead and wounded were fast be- 
ing removed from the valley. Those who 
still showed signs of life were carried to the 
toolhouse to be cared for by Phil and Lance. 
The dead men were carried into the forest to 
the west. This puzzled Jack for he could not 
understand why graves were not dug in the 
open. Indeed, he became so curious about the 
whole thing that he finally asked Lyman what 
the regulars did with the bodies. 

'Tn Mexico,’' explained Lyman, ‘'they don’t 
bother to bury dead men after a battle. They 
merely gather them all in one pile, saturate 
them with kerosene and touch a match to them. 
You see, bodies must be removed quickly in 
the Tropics or serious disease will be spread 
immediately. The funeral pyre is the quickest 
and best method of avoiding this danger.” 

"Goodness, but that’s a gruesome way of 
caring for the dead. But then, I suppose, it 
is best from a sanitary standpoint and it cer- 
tainly is far better than leaving the remains for 
the vultures.” 

"Si, senor, it es best zan ze vultures,” said 
some one in broken English, and Jack and 


TO THE RESCUE! 


195 


Lyman turned to find Captain Alvarez, of the 
rurales, addressing them. 'T hear your re- 
marks what you say about dead mens and I 
agree. Fire es best zan ze vultures. Oh; ze 
vultures zay are ah — what you call — ah — 
higeous, eh!’’ 

^Tndeed they are hideous. They are the 
most repulsive creatures I have ever seen,” 
said Jack. 

“Ah, you are right, Sefior Jack, but it is not 
of vulture I wish to see you for. It is of my 
mans Alfonso Perro, the one wiz ze scar foot 
which is in ze guardhouse now. We mus give 
him ze court-martial soon and ze execution. 
Also his peon assistant must we shoot. Will 
you and Sefior Ryder be ready for ze court 
zis evening?” 

“I think so,” replied Jack. “I will be ready 
and I think Mr. Ryder will — ” 

“Who is that,” interrupted Lyman, point- 
ing across the clearing in the direction of the 
trail that followed the transmission line. 

Jack beheld a swarthy, long-haired indi- 
vidual clad only in white trousers running to- 
ward the power plant, a dog loping along at 


196 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

his heels. The man’s stride was long and 
regular, like that of an experienced distance 
runner, and the lad recognized him immedi- 
ately as the Indian messenger. 

‘'Why, it’s the runner. I saw him here at 
the plant only an hour ago. I wonder where 
he’s been? I’ll warrant he has word about 
Mr. Ryder.” 

Together Jack and Lyman hurried to greet 
the messenger who by this time had crawled 
under the barbed-wire fence and was swing- 
ing up the slope. But while he was still some 
distance away he began to call in Spanish. 

“What does he say?” queried Jack of Ly- 
man, who had been listening intently to catch 
every word. 

“Quick, call out the rurales!” replied Ly- 
man; “he says that the repair crew has been 
taken prisoners by Jose Cerro himself!” 

“But how does he know? How did he get 
the information?” demanded Jack. 

“Don’t know, he must have slipped out and 
followed Mr. Ryder and his men. Hurry, 
we’ve no time to lose. He will guide us.” 

But Captain Alvarez had followed them 


TO THE RESCUE! 


197 

down the slope and he needed no persuading. 
He had understood everything the Indian 
said and even while Lyman was urging him to 
hurry the officer drew a tiny silver whistle 
from his pocket and blew three shrill blasts 
upon it. A moment later an orderly appeared 
running toward the commander. 

Brief instructions were given and the sol- 
dier hurried back toward the plant again. 
Five minutes later the clear notes of a bugle 
echoed and re-echoed through the valley, call- 
ing the troopers to saddle. 

By the time the three arrived at the corral 
the rurales were ready. There were other 
horsemen, too, eager to go to the rescue of Mr. 
Ryder, for the news had been spread through- 
out Necaxa and all the Americans who could 
be spared and who could find horses or mules 
to ride upon had gathered with the troopers. 

Mozos found mounts for Jack and Lyman 
and the Indian runner, and in less than twenty 
minutes after Miguel appeared upon the trail 
the troop was galloping out of the enclosure 
and along the path that followed the transmis- 
sion lines. Captain Alvarez, the Indian, Jack 


198 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

and Lyman were in the lead and the rest of 
the band was strung out behind, their position 
depending entirely upon the speed of their 
horses. And as they galloped toward the 
break in the transmission line the wounded In- 
dian explained how he had left the toolhouse 
hospital and followed the repair crew at a dis- 
tance, hoping to be of assistance in case of 
trouble. But soon he began to find traces of 
the presence of rebels along the trail. He 
tried to reach Mr. Ryder and warn him of 
the ambush, but he said that the woods in the 
vicinity of the pole on which the men were 
working were so full of Jose Cerro’s men that 
he could not get through their lines without 
running the risk of being shot. Quietly he 
waited until he could be certain of the direc- 
tion Jose Cerro and his men would lead their 
prisoners. Then he returned to Necaxa as 
fast as he could run. 

Half an hour after the rurales left the plant 
they arrived at the point where the transmis- 
sion line was down. Here the Indian dis- 
mounted and looked over the ground care- 
fully. 



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TO THE RESCUE! 


199 


'They are many peons/’ he said laconically 
to Captain Alvarez as he remounted and 
started toward the trail that led into the ra- 
vine. In single file the horsemen followed 
their guide, for nearly an hour before they 
reached the end of the rocky pass, from the 
mouth of which they could look down into the 
broad valley that held Los Angeles. Off in 
the distance Jack saw a line of soldiers wind- 
ing its way toward the little community. 

"There, there, over there! Those are Jose 
Cerro’s men with their prisoners!” exclaimed 
Captain Alvarez in Spanish. "Come ! At 
them, men!” 

The call of the bugle trumpeting the charge 
sounded through the valley. Jose Cerro and 
his men heard it and began to hurry forward 
at double-quick time. But they soon saw that 
escape was impossible, for the horsemen rushed 
down upon them swiftly. All that remained 
for the peons to do was stand and fight. 
Hurriedly they formed a circle about their 
prisoners and with guns pointing on every side 
prepared to repel the rurales. 

The horsemen in green swept down from 


200 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

the ravine ’mid the thunder of hoofs and the 
shouts of infuriated men ! Indian fashion the 
squad split, a wing skirting either side of the 
valley. On they came firing from their sad- 
dles with carbine or revolver and menacing 
Jose Cerro’s men from every side. But the 
little knot of peons were courageous. They 
loaded and fired in lightning fashion and the 
rattle of their musketry sounded like a bat- 
tery of machine guns in action. They were 
making a last and desperate stand and they 
fought doggedly! 

Round and round the little group of men 
swept the calvary, making the circle ever nar- 
rower. Jack rode with the rest of them, ly- 
ing close to his horse’s neck and firing his re- 
volver. But in the heat of it all he never took 
his eyes from the prisoners in the center of 
the circle of rebels. There were Mr. Ryder 
and his assistants exposed to the fire of the 
men from the plant. Jack expected to see one 
of them topple from his horse at any moment, 
pierced by the bullets of their friends. 

But gradually the nerve of the fighting 
rebels began to go. Three of them left their 


TO THE RESCUE! 


201 


companions and tried to break through the line 
of horsemen. Jack saw a rurale ride one of 
them down. The other two were shot before 
they had gone a dozen yards. Two more 
tried to get through, only to be trampled down 
by the flying horsemen. Jose Cerro and his 
men were trapped. There was no way for 
them to get beyond the circle of horsemen. 
Some threw down their arms and cried for 
mercy while others broke and ran; ran as far 
as they could go before a bullet brought them 
to the ground or a horse trampled them under 
foot. 

Then in the midst of it all, while Jack was 
still keeping a watchful eye on Mr. Ryder, the 
lad saw the engineer suddenly jerked down 
from his mount, and in his place on the horse’s 
back appeared a wicked-looking little Mexican. 
The man set spurs to the horse immediately 
and tried to ride through the crush of humans 
about him. He cursed and shouted for his 
men to make way and those who did not move 
fast enough he beat over the head with the 
butt of his revolver. 

‘'Look! look!” shrieked Jack; “their leader 


202 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

is getting away! Jose Cerro is escaping!’’ 
Then rolling his spurs across his animal’s 
flanks he gave chase. But others saw the 
escaping leader and more than one horseman 
turned his mount down the valley after the 
fleeing rebel. 

It was a short race. Jose Cerro had hardly 
time to get his steed down to its pace before 
Jack and two rurales reached his side. One 
man seized the horse’s bridle and threw the 
animal back up on its haunches. With a curse 
the Zapatista drew his revolver. But Jack 
happened fortunately to be on the right side 
of the rebel. His revolver spat fire twice be- 
fore the Mexican could raise his arm. Jose 
Cerro shrieked with pain. The revolver 
dropped from his helpless fingers and he reeled 
in the saddle. The other rurale caught him 
as he was falling and steadied him on the pran- 
cing horse. 

The fighting had ceased by this time for 
most of the peons, seeing their leader in full 
flight, had surrendered. The Mexican line- 
men and the Americans who were still tied to 


TO THE RESCUE! 


203 


their horses had been liberated immediately 
and the rurales were busy forming the re- 
mainder of the rebel band in a double line and 
disarming them. 

Jack and Mr. Ryder greeted each other 
warmly when the former drove up, escorting 
the wounded leader. 

‘‘By George, boy, Tni mighty glad you got 
the rurales out when you did. It began to 
look to us as if we were in for a rather dis- 
agreeable time with Jose Cerro. Jose, you 
know, is a dangerous individual at best, and 
any one who is unfortunate enough to become 
his prisoner is very liable to suffer.’’ 

‘‘Yes, I am glad I arrived before it was 
necessary to superintend your ‘decent burial,’ 
but the credit is not due me. Miguel, our In- 
dian runner, once more appeared in the nick 
of time. He saw you leaving for the moun- 
tains and all unknown to us he trailed you. 
He saw you captured and hurried back to the 
plant and spread the news. Where is he 
now ?” 

“There he is yonder on his horse, looking 


204 jack straw in MEXICO 

like a bronze statue. I'm going over and 
shake hands with him. He's a brave boy," 
said Mr. Ryder. 

To have the great gringo engineer shake 
hands with him and compliment him pleased 
the Indian runner a great deal in spite of the 
fact that he became very self-conscious when 
Mr. Ryder told him how brave he really was. 

‘T'm not brave," he said in Spanish. 'T 
merely repay a kindness. Also, I am glad to 
see Jose Cerro captured. If he is not killed 
by the rurales I myself will kill him for this." 
The Indian pointed gravely to his wounded 
shoulder as he spoke. 

But Mr. Ryder did not hear all that the In- 
dian said for the grounded transmission line 
was worrying him. He looked at his watch 
then hurried off to where Carroll and several 
men from the plant were standing. 

"'Come, we've still time to fix up that trans- 
mission line before nightfall. Get the linemen 
together and we'll start back through the ra- 
vine. The Indian will lead us and if we 
hurry we will be able to put things in condition 
so that Mexico City can have light to-night." 


CHAPTER XX 
''shoot! shoot!’’ 

I T was long after sunrise next morning 
when the cavalcade of horsemen and their 
prisoners appeared at the station. Though 
the wires had been restrung and service 
started at nightfall the previous evening, the 
rescuers and rescued as well were too tired 
even to make the four-mile ride back to the 
plant. They had all been without sleep for 
practically forty-eight hours and even while 
the lines were being repaired many of the 
rurales tossed themselves on the ground and 
promptly became unconscious. The result 
was a night camp along the transmission line 
trail with no guard except that maintained 
over the prisoners^ and this was hardly neces- 
sary for the rebels had been awake as long, if 
not longer, than the men from the power 
house, and were equally as tired. 

Necaxa was not awake either when the 
205 


2o6 jack straw in MEXICO 

rurales arrived. Aside from the few regular 
soldiers who were doing sentry duty, no one 
seemed to be stirring about the little town. 
The night men, who had been forced to stay 
awake longer than the rest, had already left 
the station and crawled into bed thoroughly 
weary. But the clatter of hoofs and the 
shouts of the soldiers greeting the returning 
fighters awakened many of them and attracted 
the attention of the men at work in the power 
station. Soon the community was alive with 
curious soldiers and workmen, all eager to 
hear of the adventures of Mr. Ryder and his 
repair crew. But when they saw the line of 
prisoners and beheld Jose Cerro, helpless on 
a stretcher made of one of the rurale's 
blankets, they cheered lustily, for the capture 
of the rebel leader meant that the country was 
rid of one of its most vicious bandits. 

Arthur Strong, the day operator, was one 
of the first to greet the engineer. The mo- 
ment he heard the soldiers arrive he left the 
control room in charge of his assistant and 
hurried downstairs. 

‘‘By Jove, we were mighty pleased to get 


‘^SHOOT! SHOOT r 


207 


your telephone message last night,” he said to 
Mr. Ryder. ‘‘We thought that Cerro had 
done away with all of you. I am glad to see 
you again. You too, Jack, old boy.’' Strong 
shook hands with his superior as he spoke. 
“And, say, perhaps you don’t think we’ve had 
one fine time around here since you left yes- 
terday afternoon,” he continued, to Mr. Ryder. 
“Things nearly went to the devil until we 
locked that man Nedham up.” 

“Nedham,” exclaimed Mr. Ryder; “what’s 
he been doing?” 

“Doing?” exclaimed Long; “why the man’s 
been drunk on pulque! You know what that 
stufif will do with you. I hadn’t seen him since 
the battle until last night after the rurales 
cleared out. About eight o’clock he came 
stumbling into the control room. His eyes 
were bulging out and his face was red and 
ugly. I was on duty and I had about made 
up my mind to stick through the night, since 
Lyman had gone with the rescuers. Nedham 
came staggering in just when I was busiest. 
He said he was going to run the plant for the 
night. I could see that he was in no shape to 


2o8 jack straw in MEXICO 

run anything nor to issue orders either, so I 
told him to get back home and sleep it off. 
Then he got ugly. But I knew he was drunk 
so I did not bother with him. Then he became 
insistent and noisy and when he tried to punch 
me I had to call in two soldiers. They took 
him to the guard-house. He was in there all 
last night. This morning I let him out. I 
think he is up at his cottage now, very much the 
worse for his spree.’’ 

‘‘What a fine assistant I have!” said Mr. 
Ryder sarcastically. “Tell Lyman to go and 
rout him out. I want to talk with him.” 

While the engineer and the operator were 
talking. Captain Alvarez and his rurales ar- 
ranged their prisoners in line along the south 
wall of the power station. This scene had 
interested Jack far more than the recital of 
Nedham’s drunken actions for it began to look 
to the lad as if a wholesale slaughter was about 
to take place. 

“Heavens, I hope Captain Alvarez doesn’t 
intend to execute them all,” said the youth to 
Mr. Ryder when the day operator ceased talk- 
ing. “That would be hideous. It would be 


^^SHOOT! SHOOT r 209 

brutal murder. You canT countenance such 
actions, Mr. Ryder?’’ 

‘Tndeed I can’t,” said the engineer, hurry- 
ing toward Captain Alvarez, ''and besides I 
want to have a word with Cerro before any 
execution takes place. I think that man 
knows some things that will help clear up the 
mystery that surrounds all our recent 
trouble.” 

To do justice to the Mexican commander it 
must be said that he had not intended to have 
a wholesale execution. He explained this to 
Mr. Ryder quite frankly and stated that he 
merely intended to make the rebel leader face 
the firing squad while his followers looked on. 
He thought that it would be a capital way of 
teaching a lesson. After the execution he pur- 
posed sending the whole horde of prisoners to 
Mexico City, where they would be turned over 
to General Rodriguez to be confined in the 
military prison. 

"If it is all the same to you,” said Mr. 
Ryder, "I would like to have a few words with 
Cerro before he is shot.” 

"Certain,” said the officer, "only et ez not 


210 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

so easy to mek him to talk, he is ah what you 
call — ah — to handle hard you know/’ 

The rebel leader was lying on the ground 
near the entrance to the guardhouse. His 
wounds had been bound up the evening before 
by one of his followers, but in spite of all ef- 
forts to ease him, it was quite evident that the 
man was suffering a great deal. 

Mr. Ryder bent over the prostrate form and 
spoke in Spanish. ‘‘Jose Cerro, you are going 
to die. You will soon face the firing squad. 
Tell me who would give you three thousand 
pesos for my capture.” But in spite of his 
pain the little black-haired Mexican smiled 
grimly and shook his head. 

‘‘No,” he said. “I cannot tell, no, no.” 

Mr. Ryder was about to press his question 
again, however, when L)mian appeared, lead- 
ing a very white and very nervous-looking in- 
dividual whom Jack recognized as Nedham. 

“Here’s your assistant, Mr. Ryder ; you said 
you wanted to see him,” said Lyman. 

But before the engineer could speak Ned- 
ham caught sight of the man on the ground. 
He shrank back in terror and gasped. 


SHOOT! SHOOT r 


2II 


‘'Oh, it’s Jose Cerro 1” 

Mr. Ryder looked searchingly at his 
trembling assistant, for he could not under- 
stand what made the man so frightened at 
seeing the wounded rebel leader. He did not 
have long to speculate on the reason for such 
strange actions, for Captain Alvarez came to 
speak to him. 

“You could no make Jose speak?” queried 
the officer. 

“No, he refused to answer my ques- 
tions.” 

“Ah-ha, did I not tell you zay all are so like 
that.” Then turning to* Jose Cerro, he said 
in Spanish, “You are to die. Can you stand 
up to face the firing squad or must we prop 
you against the wall?” 

“I shall die standing,” said the rebel 
proudly, “and you shall not blindfold me 
either.” 

“All right, get up; we have not time to lose, 
two others are to be shot after you. Perro, 
our traitorous rurale, and his peon companion 
die to-day,” said Captain Alvarez brutally. 

“Carlos! Jesus! come, help your leader to 


212 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

rise; he must die standing/’ called Jose Cerro 
to two of the peon prisoners. 

The faithful followers left their places and 
raising the wounded man to his feet, assisted 
him to the spot designated by the commander 
of the firing squad. That his effort to walk 
was causing the rebel excruciating pain was 
evident from the expression on his face. It 
took him some time to limp across the space 
in front of the firing squad even with the help 
of his men. 

While he was taking his place before the five 
executioners, a hush fell over the scores of 
men that stood about. Every one was tense 
and silent. Jose Cerro’s attendants shook 
hands with him solemnly and left him stand- 
ing there alone. Slowly the five riflemen 
brought their guns to position and took aim. 
Then just as the officer was raising his sword 
to give the firing signal, Jose Cerro spoke. 

‘‘A moment,” he said in Spanish, ‘‘just a 
moment. I wish to speak — ” 

^'No! No! Shoot! Shoot! Don’t let him 
speak,” screamed a voice in English. 

It was Nedham, trembling and on the point 


^‘SHOOT! SHOOT r 


213 


of collapse. His face was distorted with fear 
and he was forced to cling to Lyman to keep 
from falling to the ground. 

‘‘So, Sehor Nedham, you turn against me 
now,’’ hissed the rebel leader. “You would 
have me shot without speaking my last words. 
You thought me a traitor who would tell your 
plot. That was not intended. But now I 
will tell. Come, Sehor Ryder, listen. It was 
Sehor Nedham who plotted against you. He 
it was who offered three thousand pesos for 
your capture, I — I — was — The sentence 
was cut off abruptly for the wounded man, 
weak with the exertion of standing, suddenly 
pitched forward on his face. 

The rebel leader’s two loyal followers hur- 
ried to his side to lift him back up on his feet, 
but he was only semi-conscious and it was 
evident to both that in a few moments more 
the firing squad would be cheated of its 
work. 

In the meantime, Nedham, regaining some 
of his shattered nerve, tried to bolt through the 
crowd but Jack and Lyman seized him and 
threw him to the ground. 


214 jack straw in MEXICO 

‘"Hurry, Mr. Ryder, take off his left shoe,’’ 
cried Jack. ‘T have an idea that this is the 
man who stole your drawings and tried to 
wreck the plant.” 

The shoe and stocking were quickly re- 
moved and much to the engineer’s amazement 
a deep scar was revealed running diagonally 
across Nedham’s heel. 

“But — but — why I thought we had the man 
with the scarred heel under arrest,” said Mr. 
Ryder thoroughly mystified. 

“Yes,” said Jack, “but it flashed upon me a 
moment ago that the rurale’s scar was on his 
right heel, while the scar mark in the dust was 
on the left foot. Don’t you remember? 
Here comes the rurale now, go look for your- 
self.” 

Two men were leading Perro from the 
guardhouse toward the firing squad. He was 
still barefooted for no one had been consid- 
erate enough of his comfort to return his cav- 
alry boots to him since his arrest. 

“Let me see your left heel,” said Mr. Ryder 
in Spanish, and obediently the rurale raised 
his foot. 


‘‘SHOOT! SHOOT r 


215 


“By George, there's no scar there ! Is it on 
the right foot ? Let me see I" But it was not 
necessary for the rurale to raise his right foot 
for the scar extended half way up the man's 
ankle and was plainly visible from the right 
side. 

“Well, this came near being a fatal mis- 
take," exclaimed the engineer. Then to the 
rurale in Spanish he said, “I'm glad to know 
you're not a traitor anyway, my man." 

And the Mexican grinned for he could see 
by the expression on Mr. Ryder's face that he 
was not to be executed. 


CHAPTER XXI 
‘VeS, yes, I DID it!” 

N EDHAM’S pulque drinking had com- 
pletely shattered his nerves and the ef- 
fects of the liquor combined with the revela- 
tion of Jose Cerro had well nigh made a 
physical wreck of the assistant engineer. In- 
deed, as he stood in the center of the room in 
Mr. Ryder’s cottage, where he had been 
brought by Lyman and Captain Alvarez, he 
swayed backward and forward, and if Jack 
had not brought him a chair in all probability 
he would have collapsed completely. 

He looked at his inquisitors with staring 
bloodshot eyes, and his fingers worked nerv- 
ously at the buttons on the front of his shirt. 
His condition was pitiable and Jack and Mr. 
Ryder both felt sincerely sorry for him. 
‘'Nedham, where are those plans you stole 
216 


from my desk! You are the thief, aren’t 
you?” demanded Mr. Ryder. 

‘‘Plans?” said Nedham, trying his best to 
feign ignorance. “What plans? I — I — 
know — ” 

“Stop,” roared the engineer, “don’t lie, we 
know you are the guilty man.” 

“I tell you — I — I — Oh, God, yes, yes, I did 
it! It’s true.” Nedham could control his 
shattered nerves no longer. He broke down 
completely. “I stole the plans ! I stole them ! 
They are under the mattress of my bed! 
They’ve been haunting me ever since I took 
them! Curse the things! If I had had the 
courage I’d have burned them long ago! I 
did the rest too! I crippled the generators! 
I smashed the searchlight ! I offered the three 
thousand pesos for your capture! I did it all 
— all — and now, thank goodness, I’ve con- 
fessed ! It’s all over ! The strain ! The 
strain ! It was horrible ! I had to'* get drunk 
— ^beastly drunk.” 

Thus he raved until he was almost com- 
pletely exhausted, and his physical self, unable 
to bear the strain any longer, caved in com- 


2i8 jack straw in MEXICO 

pletely. His head dropped forward on his 
chest and his hands fell helplessly over the 
arms of the chair. He was unconscious for 
nearly a quarter of an hour and it was only by 
administering violent restoratives that Jack 
and the engineer managed to make the man 
himself once more. 

For some time the four sat staring at the 
helpless engineer. Finally Mr. Ryder spoke. 

''Why did you do this deviltry, Nedham?’’ 
he asked with a trace of disappointment in his 
voice. 

"I — I — well I was ambitious — and — I guess 
a little jealous of you too,'’ said Nedham 
weakly. "You know you only beat me out by 
two points in the competition for chief en- 
gineer and — well — I couldn't help feeling bit- 
ter toward you. I wanted your job, and I 
wanted it badly, and from the time you ap- 
pointed me your assistant I started to 
scheme ways of getting you out." 

"But what good would all your plant-wreck- 
ing have done ? Why did you put sand in the 
generators and disrupt the place in general?" 
queried the engineer. 


‘^YES, YES, I DID ITT’ 


219 


‘Well, first off I hoped to frighten you into 
resigning. I — I — thought perhaps when you 
found you had traitors among the men at the 
plant you might fear for your own safety and 
resign, but when I learned how angry Huerta 
grew with each new occurrence and how often 
he called you on the telephone and raised the 
devil with you I saw a new way of getting your 
job. I concluded that if the trouble was kept 
up long enough the President would dismiss 
you entirely as an incompetent manager and 
put me in charge. The day they called you 
down to Mexico City and had you up before 
the directors I felt mighty confident that you 
would not last long. 

“You brought this youngster back with you 
and from then on my plans began to go wrong. 
I saw you two pass the office the first night 
Jack was here. I followed you into the gen- 
erating room and hid behind one of the ma- 
chines. I saw you sprinkle the cement dust 
and I knew you were setting a trap. But as I 
watched it suddenly occurred to me that you 
were unconsciously giving me a capital oppor- 
tunity of throwing you off the trail entirely. 


220 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

Thereafter I decided to work with my feet 
bared so that you would think a peon was 
doing the damage. I forgot completely about 
the scar on my heel until it was too late.” 

''But the plans; the drawings of the light- 
ning arrester. How did you even know of 
their existence? I kept my work on that ap- 
pliance very secret indeed,” interrupted Mr. 
Ryder. 

"Well, after I watched you set your trap I 
followed you back to the cottage for I was 
curious to hear what you might have to say 
about the situation. I saw the bundle of 
drawings drop from your shirt. Also I saw 
where you put them. And although I did not 
have the slightest idea what the plans were 
about I decided that so long as I had gone that 
far I might just as well take a look at your 
private papers too. I thought perhaps they 
were orders or instructions you had received 
from Huerta that day. 

"I waited until you were both sound asleep, 
and slipped into the room and opened your 
desk. It did not take me long to learn that 
the papers were drawings of a lightning ar- 


‘‘YES, YES, I DID ITT 


221 


raster of a type I had never seen before. Then 
it occurred to me that the appliance was one 
of your own invention. I looked for patent 
marks and could find none and on the impulse 
of the moment I slipped the yellow envelope 
into my pocket and went back to the plant. I 
figured that I had made a double coup, for if 
you were to build that lightning arrester and 
install it here you would win the favor of 
President Huerta and consequently my efforts 
would all be wasted. Also I was dishonest 
enough to think that perhaps I could easily 
secure a patent on the appliance in my own 
name when I finally got you out of the way/’ 

“Nedham ! I never would believe it of you,” 
said the engineer reproachfully. 

“Don’t, don’t, please don’t reproach me, 
Heaven only knows where my manhood has 
gone to,” cried Nedham in agony. 

“And do you mean to say that you deliber- 
ately brought on battle and caused hundreds 
of lives to be sacrificed merely to get me out of 
my position?” asked Mr. Ryder incredulously. 

“Yes, yes, I did. I offered Jose Cerro three 
thousand pesos to get you out of the way. I 


222 


JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

did not want you killed. No, no, I was not as 
base as that. I merely wanted you captured 
and kept a prisoner so long that when you 
were finally released I would be safely in- 
trenched here and in the favor of the President 
to such an extent that you could never regain 
your position. Jose Cerro thought an attack 
the only way to get you, and I smashed the 
searchlight and did everything else to help 
him. Oh, it was villainous work, I know. 
Heaven forgive me, I must have been mad.’’ 

The three Americans present were utterly 
amazed at the man’s treachery, but Captain 
Alvarez did not understand fully, for his 
knowledge of English was so meager that he 
could not follow the strange recital in every 
detail. When the story was translated for his 
benefit, however, his fiery temper became 
aroused to such a pitch that the three Ameri- 
cans could hardly restrain him from rushing 
at the helpless assistant engineer and beating 
him senseless with his fist. 

‘The dog ! The traitor !” roared the Mexi- 
can in Spanish. ''He should be killed! He 
should face the firing squad 1 Come, drag him 


‘TES, YES, I DID ITT’ 223 

out! We will shoot him! We will shoot 
himr 

‘'No! no!’’ shrieked Nedham, a look of hor- 
ror coming into his ashen face. ‘‘No ! no ! you 
cannot kill me ! You cannot shoot me ! lam 
an American citizen!” 

“He is right,” said Mr. Ryder. “We can- 
not execute him without bringing on interna- 
tional complications that would be distasteful 
to President Huerta. No, we can’t shoot him, 
even though he does deserve it. But we can 
expel him from the Republic of Mexico. Put 
him in the guardhouse. Captain Alvarez, and 
this afternoon we will ship him to Mexico City 
with the rest of our prisoners. We can turn 
him over to the authorities there and request 
that he be sent out of the country immedi- 
ately.” 

A look of relief spread over Nedham’s face 
when he heard Mr. Ryder’s opinion. 

“Oh, never fear, I’m only too willing to be 
quit of this country. I can’t see how any man 
can keep straight in this hole of iniquity.” 

“It was not a hole of iniquity until treacher- 
ous villains of your stamp came into it,” re- 


224 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

torted Mr. Ryder. Then turning to Captain 
Alvarez he said, ''Call in your trooper and 
have him taken to the guardhouse. The train 
for Mexico City will be made up as soon as 
possible. In the meantime you and Lyman 
stay here and sample one of Tom Why’s ex- 
cellent dinners. Things have gone so far to 
the devil lately that I haven’t had time to enjoy 
a good dinner myself. After dinner I’ll ac- 
company you to Mexico City for I will have to 
make a report of this whole matter to our di- 
rectors. I guess the plant will be safe enough 
in the hands of my new assistant, Mr. Lyman.” 

The night operator’s face bearded when he 
heard, thus abruptly, of his promotion and he 
blushed like a schoolboy when Jack and Cap- 
tain Alvarez congratulated him. 

"I envy you,” said Jack Straw heartily, "for 
there’s nothing I’d like more than to be con- 
nected with a huge generating station like 
this.” 

"Well, we’ve room for a boy here, and we 
could teach you a great deal about the electri- 
cal industry. Why don’t you apply for a 
position,” said Lyman meaningly, at the same 


‘‘YES, YES, I DID ITT^ 


225 


time glancing in the direction of Mr. Ryder. 

“Oh, no,” said the lad from Vermont, “Eve 
already been away from Drueryville a month 
and I think it is about time I hurried back. In 
fact, IVe decided to go in on the train this 
afternoon with Mr. Ryder. Some day after 
I have acquired a real training at ‘Sheff/ or 
some other engineering school I may visit 
Necaxa again. Who knows?” 

“Well, if we are still here you can be certain 
of a welcome, my boy,” said Mr. Ryder 
heartily. 


CHAPTER XXII 

GOOD-BY, NECAXA 

T he string of flat cars and the snorting 
steam engine were waiting when Jack, 
Mr. Ryder, the new assistant engineer and 
Captain Alvarez arrived. Indeed, the soldiers 
and rurales were already hurrying their pris- 
oners aboard. Wicked-looking regulars were 
stationed at each end of the cars and there ap- 
peared to be small chance of any of the peons 
escaping from the train during its journey to- 
ward the capital. 

In half an hour everything was ready. 
Jack found that a large group of workmen had 
gathered to see him depart and he shook hands 
with each one of them before he finally swung 
aboard the platform of the yellow caboose and 
took his place beside Mr. Ryder and Captain 
Alvarez. Slowly the little train gathered 
headway and with the cheers of the men ring- 
226 


GOOD-BY, NECAXA 227 

ing in his ears Jack Straw said good-by to 
Necaxa. But the string of cars had scarcely 
gone two hundred yards when a figure elbowed 
its way through the crowd of workmen and 
soldiers and came swinging down the narrow 
track at a rapid pace. His shoulder was ban- 
daged about with white cloth and at his heels 
followed a tawny, long-eared hound. It was 
Miguel, the Indian runner, and his dog. 

After some effort the agile messenger over- 
took the train and jumped aboard the steps of 
the caboose. Hastily he held out his hand to- 
ward Jack and mumbled something in Spanish. 
The lad from Vermont was greatly pleased 
that the redman was so eager to say farewell 
to him that he risked jumping aboard the mov- 
ing train, and he wrung the Indian’s hand 
warmly. 

‘What did he say ?” asked Jack of Mr. Ryder 
when the messenger had swung to the ground. 

“He said T am still in debt to you for sav- 
ing my dog. Many thanks, many thanks,’ ” 
replied Mr. Ryder. 

“Well, it strikes me that he paid that debt 
off several times during the last few days,” 


228 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

laughed Jack as he waved to the Indian who 
remained standing in the center of the track 
watching the departing cars. 

The news of the battle and the treachery of 
Nedham at Necaxa reached the capital over 
the long-distance telephone wire long before 
the- train with the prisoners arrived and when 
Jack and Mr. Ryder entered the American 
Hotel after Nedham and the rest of the pris- 
oners had been turned over to the proper au- 
thorities, they found the evening papers 
crowded with the news. Pictures of the pris- 
oners that had been brought in, pen sketches of 
the battle and photographs of the plant at 
Necaxa occupied the front page of the dailies 
and scare headlines fairly shouted the details 
attending the capture of Jose Cerro and his 
band. Fortunately one of the papers printed 
an American as well as a Mexican edition and 
Jack was able to read the full account of his 
own adventures. 

The capture of Jose Cerro was the subject 
of conversation in the dining-room of the hotel 
that evening too, and many of Mr. Ryder’s 
friends sought him out and congratulated him 


GOOD-BY, NECAXA 


229 


on the successful way in which he had handled 
things at Necaxa through all the trouble. In- 
deed, after a time the publicity that they were 
attracting became distasteful to the two Ameri- 
cans and they made haste to finish their meal. 

But just as they were leaving the dining- 
room a tall sun tanned individual rushed up 
and clapping Mr. Ryder on the shoulder fairly 
shouted : 

‘Why, Harry Ryder, you old fighting 
engineer, I am glad to see you alive after such 
a mixup. And as I live here is my young 
friend. Jack Straw.’’ Jack instantly recog- 
nized the man as Mr. Warner, the marine 
engineer whom he had met on board the Yuca- 
tan on his way south to Vera Cruz. The lad 
was more than pleased to see Mr. Warner once 
more and shook hands cordially. 

“Hello there, Jim Warner!” exclaimed Mr. 
Ryder ; “what the dickens are you doing down 
in this part of the world?” 

“Why, I’ve been tinkering with the old 
Lobo’s Island Light for nearly a month. To 
tell you the truth. I’ve just finished the job and 
knowing that you were within a few hundred 


230 JACK STRAW IN MEXICO 

miles of me I decided to run in to see you. I 
was going out to Necaxa to-morrow and spend 
a week or two with you, but unfortunately that 
can’t be done for I’ve just received a telegram 
from Washington instructing me to go ahead 
with a mighty big undertaking I’ve been figur- 
ing on. I’ll have to hustle back to the coast 
immediately. And in view of the fact that you 
have been having quite a fuss out there I’m 
rather glad my plans have been changed. I’m 
not hankering to be drilled through by a soft- 
nosed bullet just now/’ concluded Mr. Warner 
with a smile. 

'‘Oh ! you would soon get used to those little 
things,” said Jack banteringly. 

'T suppose so,” replied the marine engineer. 
"You must have had rather an adventurous 
month there.” 

"Indeed I did,” answered Jack. 

"Well, how would you like to have another 
month of thrills? If you feel inclined that 
way, come along with me. If you don’t fight 
men you’ll fight the elements. I am going to 
cruise the high seas for Uncle Sam.” 

"That sounds interesting,” said Jack, "but 


GOOD-BY, NECAXA 231 

I am going north on the next steamer from 
Vera Cruz/’ 

“So am I, and we’ll get a chance to talk it 
over anyway,” said Mr. Warner. 


THE END 


VAIL-BALLOU CO., BINGHAMTON AND NEW YORK 





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